Scottish Government urged to act on A&E waiting times 'crisis'
Latest figures show less than 70% of patients seen within target time - as Health Secretary warns NHS recovery from Covid could take years
The Health Secretary has told Tay FM News the recovery of the NHS in Scotland could take years, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to have an impact on services.
The latest A&E waiting time figures show just 69.2% per cent of patients were seen within 4 hours in the week to the 12th of June.
The Scottish Government target is that 95% of patients are seen within that time.
The figures, published by Public Health Scotland, showed just two health boards met the 95% target - with NHS Western Isles and NHS Shetland dealing with 99.1% and 95.8% of patients within four hours respectively.
Hospitals in Forth Valley and Glasgow seeing less than half of patients within target time
In NHS Forth Valley, which has just one hospital with A&E facilities, just under half (49.7%) of patients were either admitted, transferred or discharged within the target time.
Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, meanwhile, dealt with 47.5% of patients within the four-hour limit, while at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary 48.5% of patients were treated within the target time.
Humza Yousaf told us Covid is still a major factor: “We know we’ve seen an increase in cases and infections over the last couple of weeks and that undoubtedly affects the workforce.
“What I would say though is that A&E tells us one story, a very important part of the picture, but what we’re also trying to do is recover elective care as well. Those long waiting lists of knee and hip operations, cataracts and all those procedures.
“So it may be that A&E performance doesn’t get to 95% overnight, or in the coming weeks, but it’s really important to recover both A&E and elective and that’s where our focus is at the moment.”
But political opponents say ministers are being urged to address the "crisis" in Scotland's accident and emergency departments.
Wait "increases risk of unnecessary deaths"
Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane told Tay FM News: “The SNP, and Humza Yousaf in particular, are very good at announcements.
“It’s great, £10million pounds for long Covid – but what has actually happened to sufferers of long Covid? Announcements for A&E – what’s actually happened to the figures? We can see today that they’ve worsened.”
“We are seeing terrible A&E waiting times, somebody waited 40 hours. These are your loved ones, these are your parents, your siblings, your children who are having to wait.
“And we know that this wait is increasing the risk of people dying unnecessarily.”