Health Secretary Angela Constance has said she is “committed” to improving waiting times in Scotland’s accident-and-emergency departments – despite claims from opposition parties that SNP ministers are “incapable of fixing the crisis”.
Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats all criticised the Scottish Government as the latest weekly figures showed another decline in waiting-times performance.
In the week ending June 21, a total of 29,474 patients went to A&E for help, with Public Health Scotland data showing 62.9% of them were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
That is down from 65.5% the previous week and continues to be below the Scottish Government target of having 95% of patients admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
The four-hour target was missed for 10,928 patients in the week ending June 21, the data showed.
Meanwhile, there were 3,904 patients – 13.2% of cases in A&E – who were there for eight hours or more.
Included in this is 1,510 people – 5.1% of patients – who spent at least 12 hours in the emergency department.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: “Every week thousands of Scots face dangerously long waits for urgent care in A&E, but the SNP seem incapable of fixing the crisis.”
She added: “The SNP must do right by long-suffering patients and staff and get A&E back on track.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Adam Harley said: “When the SNP first took power, virtually no-one was waiting more than 12 hours at A&E. Now, over 1,000 people are experiencing these waits every week.
“People are waiting what must feel like a lifetime at A&E because there are too many beds occupied by patients who can’t get the care package they need to return home.”
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “It’s the height of summer, but our ailing NHS is under the kind of pressure usually reserved for peak winter flu season.”
The Tory added: “These worsening stats are damning proof that, after two decades of SNP incompetence, our health service is in permanent crisis mode, with thousands of desperate patients enduring dangerous delays for treatment.
“We know these unacceptable delays lead to tragic and avoidable deaths, despite the best efforts of frontline staff.
“Medics are not miracle workers. Successive incompetent SNP health ministers have left them overstretched, under-resourced and fighting with one arm tied behind their backs.
“Angela Constance may still be getting her feet under the table as the new health secretary, but patients and staff are suffering on her watch.”
Ms Constance, who was appointed Health Secretary after May’s Holyrood election, said A&E departments “continue to experience significant pressure” but insisted “this is not unique to Scotland with other UK nations facing similar demands”.
She stated: “I am committed to improving A&E performance and tackling delays for patients.
“That’s why we will be publishing a new national plan for improving the flow of patients through our hospitals, from the front door to discharge, within our first 100 days.”