Number of patients waiting 12 hours or longer at A&E in Scotland hits record high

Waiting times for Scotland's hospitals have been revealed with statistics looking at the government's four hour waiting time target. Credit: PA

The number of patients waiting for 12 hours or longer at A&E in Scotland has hit a record high.

There were 1,925 people waiting for a minimum of 12 hours when attending A&E in the week ending 25 December, according to the latest data from Public Health Scotland.

Waiting times across Scotland's A&E departments have showcased that just 56.9% of patients are being seen in the Scottish Government's four-hour waiting time target.

The statistics for Dumfries and Galloway were more impressive than the national average with 73.4% of patients being seen within four hours.

There were no statistics provided for the Scottish Borders with Public Health Scotland stating that this was due to technical issues.

The number of total patients visiting A&E in Scotland was 22,892 for the week ending 25 December and there were 936 in Dumfries and Galloway.

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."

A statement from Public Health Scotland said: "Large decreases in Emergency Department (ED) attendances in NHS Scotland were observed in spring 2020, winter 2020/21 and early 2022 due to the measures put in place to respond to COVID-19.

"Current ED attendances are similar to pre-COVID levels.

"From the summer of 2021 the proportion of ED attendances being seen within four hours has dropped below 80% and has remained at this rate for a prolonged period of time.

"NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Borders were unable to submit the data for the week ending 25 December 2022 due to technical issues.

"As a result, the NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Borders data is missing this week and NHS Scotland totals for this week will be an undercount.

"Public Health Scotland are working closely with colleagues in NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Borders to rectify this and we will include amendments in our next weekly update."

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