‘Warning lights flashing’ for NHS as thousands wait more than eight hours in A&E

The “warning lights are flashing” for the NHS, the Scottish Government has been warned, as figures revealed thousands are continuing to wait more than eight hours in A&E.

Scottish Labour said pressures on the the health service will only continue to grow as Scotland approaches winter.

The latest figures from Public Health Scotland showed that performance against the four-hour target for emergency departments remained unchanged at 64% in the week ending November 10.

The standard is for 95% of patients to be seen and subsequently admitted, discharged or transferred within four hours, but performance has been below 80% since July 2021.

Figures released on Tuesday showed 1,184 patients spent more than 12 hours in A&E, compared to 1,429 the week before.

Some 2,901 patients spent more than eight hours in emergency departments, compared to 3,272 the week before.

The Health Secretary said while performance is not where the Scottish Government wanted it to be, it remains the best in the UK.

Tory MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane said Neil Gray was “distracted” by the row over his free football matches.

The Health Secretary was driven in a ministerial car with friends and family to watch football games six times – four of which were to see his team, Aberdeen FC.

The Scottish Conservatives have called for a ministerial investigation into whether Mr Gray broke expenses rules, although First Minister John Swinney has rejected those calls.

Dr Gulhane said: “Suffering patients are continuing to bear the brunt of the SNP’s neglect of frontline NHS services.

“These unacceptable waits create bottlenecks in other areas of our NHS and we cannot afford a backlog when we know these numbers will increase over winter.

“If we didn’t have an SNP Health Secretary distracted by his own scandal we might have made real progress on tackling these delays which we know can lead to needless loss of life.”

Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the Scottish Government is not prepared for the coming winter.

She said: “With thousands of patients waiting eight hours or more just to be treated, the warning lights are already flashing on our NHS.

“As Scotland enters winter the pressure will only increase but there are no signs that this SNP government is prepared.

“The UK Labour government has delivered a record Budget settlement for Scotland including £789 million of health-related funding this year and an additional £1.72 billion for our NHS next year — the SNP must make sure every penny of this is spent on health and improving social care.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said 17 years of “SNP mismanagement of the NHS is taking its toll”.

He said: “Waiting times like this used to be an exception, now they are just the norm. We need to see the Scottish Government finally take some action before the situation worsens this winter.”

The Health Secretary said: “Scotland’s core A&E departments have been the best performing in the UK for the last eight years. However, performance is still not where we want it to be.

“With Scottish Government support, health boards are working to move people through the hospital as quickly as possible so that A&E waits can be kept to an absolute minimum.

“This includes an increased focus on effective discharge planning, which not only helps to free up beds but is also in the best interest of patients who are ready to leave hospital.

“I would like to thank all health and social care staff for their continued hard work.”