Edinburgh Royal Infirmary A&E 'operating beyond capacity'
New figures offer a “terrifying snapshot” of the pressure on A&E departments - as it's revealed Edinburgh Royal Infirmary's department operated over capacity "every single hour of every single day last month."
The accident and emergency department at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary operated over capacity "every single hour of every single day last month" according to new figures.
The data, gathered by a freedom of information request from the Scottish Conservatives, reveals the A&E section of the hospital was operating at double it's capacity at any given time throughout August.
The findings offers a “terrifying snapshot” of the scale of the pressure Scotland’s emergency wards are under, according to the Party.
The unit has room for 40 patients, but was found in routine hourly checks to be seeing at least 80 people at a time throughout the month.
The NHS Lothian figures show that, since the turn of the year, Edinburgh Royal’s A&E department has, on average, been beyond capacity for 22 hours per day.
The health board also confirmed that those patients waiting to be seen are typically kept in corridors on trolleys or chairs, or asked to sit – and in exceptional circumstances stand – in the waiting room.
NHS Lothian’s problems were not confined to the Edinburgh Royal either. The A&E departments at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, the Western General and St John’s in Livingston were also operating beyond capacity for the majority of this summer.
"Beggars belief"
Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Secretary, Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP, said:
“I’m certain that the over-capacity crisis they reveal is not unique to NHS Lothian, because we know how bad waiting-time figures are in emergency wards across Scotland.
“But it still beggars belief to think that there was not a single moment last month when Edinburgh Royal staff weren’t battling to clear a backlog of emergency patients.
“No wonder waiting times are the worst on record when staff are constantly stretched beyond breaking point. And the tragic reality is that these excess delays lead inevitably to avoidable deaths.
“The buck stops with Humza Yousaf and the SNP Government for this crisis, and they must not attempt to shift the blame.
"Our dedicated NHS workers are burning out. Both A&E staff and patients are being let down by the SNP's dreadful workforce planning, which has left Scotland’s A&E wards dangerously under-staffed for years.
“Humza Yousaf’s flimsy Covid Recovery Plan simply isn’t fit for purpose and must be rewritten immediately.
“The most alarming thing about these figures is that they cover the height of summer, when A&E wards are traditionally quieter.
“It’s frightening to think how bad the situation will be this winter unless the Health Secretary finally gets a grip of the A&E crisis, which he has ignored for too long.”
"Not where it needs to be"
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said in response to the findings:
"I recognise A&E departments, including NHS Lothian, are working under significant pressure and I am grateful for their continued efforts as we recover from the pandemic, which is still affecting services.
"As I have made clear, the latest A&E performance is not where it needs to be.
"A letter has issued to boards setting out immediate actions to ensure immediate performance recovery and I will meet with the boards facing the most challenges next week to discuss further support to their improvement plans.
"We are working with boards to reduce pressure on hospitals, including our £50 million Unscheduled Care Collaborative programme, which supports further development of Flow Navigation Centres in every board to ensure rapid access to a clinician and scheduled appointments."