Dozens a day being forced to wait 12 hours in A&E
67 people a day are being forced to wait in Scotland’s casualty wards for more than 12 hours as the NHS winter meltdown intensifies.
New figures out today revealed another worst-ever performance for accident and emergency waiting times, with just 77.9 per cent seen to within four hours by the end of last week.
Of those, 470 had to wait beyond 12 hours for care, considerably more than any week since the ISD Scotland records began.
The report also showed, to the week ending January 7, there were 1449 A&E patients who waited more than eight hours.
It means six per cent of A&E attendances had to wait double the four-hour target limit, while two per cent were forced to sit tight for 12 hours or more.
ISD Scotland also published delayed discharge figures, which revealed the NHS in Scotland lost more than 40,000 bed days to the issue in November.
The 1413 who were stuck in hospital despite being fit to leave was the worst in several months, but a slight improvement on the same period last year.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said:
“It used to be that patients going to A&E would worry about not being seen within four hours.
“Now, under this SNP government, there’s a reasonable chance they’ll have to wait double that, with hundreds every week even spending 12 hours or more in casualty.
“The SNP was repeatedly told about the challenges it would face this winter, but it seems those warnings have been ignored.
“Hardworking NHS staff right across the country are doing their best to make life easier for patients.
“But they’re simply not getting the support they deserve from the SNP government at this challenging time of year.”