Accident And Emergency Waiting Times Target Hit
95% of patients are being seen within 4 hours
Scotland's accident and emergency departments have surpassed a key waiting target for the first time since weekly reporting began. The latest weekly figures show that 95.4% of patients were seen and then admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours in the week ending July 12.
The Scottish Government has set an interim goal of treating 95% of people in four hours in advance of meeting the full target of 98%.It is the first time the 30 emergency sites have collectively topped the 95% performance rate since weekly reporting started in February, when the figure was 86.1%.
A total of 61 patients spent more than eight hours in A&E while seven people spent more than 12 hours in the department.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was the only one of 14 health boards to narrowly miss the target, achieving a performance rate of 93.9%.
Health Secretary Shona Robison welcomed the figures but acknowledged more work was needed to build on the achievement.
She said: "It is extremely promising that our core A&E departments are seeing and treating 95% of patients within four hours.
"NHS staff have been working extremely hard to cut waiting times and deliver a first-class service, and the figures published today are testament to this.
"It is also good to see that every health board in Scotland treated nine out of 10 people within four hours, with 13 reaching 95%. In addition, long waits continue to remain low.
"We now need to maintain this improvement and continue to achieve 95% nationally throughout the summer to ensure that all health boards are in an optimum position as we head in to this winter.''