NHS Scotland crisis: Record week as almost 2,000 patients spend half a day or more in A&E before Christmas

Almost 2,000 patients spent half-a-day or more waiting in accident and emergency (A&E) departments in the week running up to Christmas – the highest weekly total ever.

Official figures show that in the week ending on Christmas Day, just 56.9 per cent of patients in A&E were seen and then either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

That is well below the target of 95 per cent set by the Scottish Government – but is an improvement on the 55 per cent recorded the previous week.

The data from Public Health Scotland (PHS) shows that in the week to Christmas Day, A&E departments dealt with 22,892 patients. Of those, 9,862 waited more than the four-hour target time – with 4,156 patients in A&E for eight hours or more.

Scotland's A&E departments experienced a record week for waiting times in the lead-up to Christmas. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

A total of 1,925 patients waited for a minimum of 12 hours – up from 1,821 the previous week. PHS said the figures would be an under count as data for both NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Borders was missing.

The Scottish Conservatives branded the figures “appalling”, as they urged First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to sack health secretary Humza Yousaf.

Tory health spokesman Sandesh Gulhane insisted: “Enough is enough. Nicola Sturgeon must take her fingers out her ears, sack Humza Yousaf and recall Parliament to outline emergency measures to ease this unprecedented crisis.”

He said the “appalling figures lay bare the crisis in Scotland’s A&E wards under Humza Yousaf’s inept leadership”.

Dr Gulhane said: “Despite the Herculean efforts of frontline staff, waiting times in our emergency departments are unacceptable due to years of dire workforce planning by successive SNP health secretaries, as well as the flimsy recovery plan of the current one.

“We can’t tolerate a situation where almost 2,000 patients are waiting over half-a-day to be seen, because we know these delays lead to needless loss of life. Senior medics are voicing their concerns about patient safety almost daily, while health boards have resorted to begging staff to cancel leave to help deal with the demand.”

Statistics for November, also released by PHS, show that over the course of the month, 67.5 per cent of patients in A&E were dealt with within four hours.