Ministers have been accused of presiding over a “permanent crisis” in Scotland’s accident and emergency departments, as figures showed a rise in the number of patients suffering the longest waits.
In the week ending March 24, one in 20 patients (5%) in A&E took more than 12 hours to be either admitted, transferred or discharged – with 1,344 people waiting that long.
That is up from the total of 1,277 the previous week, according to Public Health Scotland.
The most recent figures showed across Scotland of the 26,867 people who went to A&E for help, 65.4% were admitted, transferred or discharged within the four hour target time.
That is up from the performance of 62.8% recorded the previous week, but remains well below the Scottish Government target of having 95% of patients admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
That target was missed for 9,290 patients in the week ending March 24, with the figures also showing 3,211 patients spent more than eight hours in the emergency department.
Two health boards met the target of dealing with 95% of cases in A&E inside four hours, with NHS Western Isles achieving 95.8%, while NHS Orkney dealt within 97.1% of patients in A&E in the target time.
But two hospitals dealt with less than half of patients in A&E inside four hours – with 47.3% of patients at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, ahead of the 45.8% achieved at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Separate figures covering the month of February showed of the 122,688 who sought help at A&E, 67% were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours – with this up from 65.4% in January but below the monthly average of 69.6% achieved in 2023.
Over the course of February, 40,398 patients spent more than four hours in A&E, with this including 14,374 who were there for over eight hours, and 6,218 who spent at least half a day there.
Opposition politicians hit out at the Scottish Government, with Conservative health spokesperson, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, claiming: “The SNP are presiding over a permanent crisis in Scotland’s A&E departments.”
The Tory MSP, who is also a GP, added that the Government’s “dire workforce planning and Humza Yousaf’s flimsy Covid recovery plan mean that patients and staff have had to endure the worst ever waiting times to ever occur on record in a February”.
He said that Health Secretary Neil Gray had “inherited a mess from his disgraced predecessor Michael Matheson”, adding that Mr Gray had “failed to act on spiralling waiting times since taking up his new job”.
Dr Gulhane warned: “These excessive delays – with over 1,300 patients waiting half a day to be seen this week – cause needless deaths.
“Suffering patients and my colleagues in A&E need the Health Secretary to finally oversee an improvement as we go through spring.”
Labour health spokesperson Dame Jackie Baillie said: “Four years on from the start of the pandemic and Scotland’s NHS remains in perpetual crisis.
“Health secretary after SNP health secretary has pledged to restore Scotland’s NHS but all we have had is soaring waits and deep SNP cuts that will fan the flames of the crisis.
“NHS staff are working tirelessly but they are being failed by an out-of-touch SNP Government that has run out of ideas.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Thousands of patients every week waiting over half a day at A&E is just unacceptable, yet it has become the norm under the SNP.
“Patients and staff alike deserve better than this, so we urgently need to see action from the new Health Secretary to reverse this situation.”
Mr Gray said: “We know that the health service remains under sustained pressure. Waiting times are longer than we want them to be for too many patients, and we continue to work with boards to reduce these instances.
“Despite this, the monthly statistics show an improvement in A&E performance.”
The Health Secretary continued: “The pressures being felt by our A&E departments are not unique to Scotland, with similar challenges being felt by emergency departments throughout the UK and beyond.
“A&E performance is impacted by pressures from across the wider health and social care system, which is why our Unscheduled Care Collaborative Programme is taking a whole system approach as we work with health boards to deliver sustained improvement.”