The Scottish Government has come under fire over “dangerously long” waits in accident and emergency – as the latest weekly figures showed performance against waiting times targets worsened.
Of the 28,793 people who attended A&E in the week ending May 10, less than two-thirds (65.1%) were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within the Government’s four-hour target time.
That is down from 65.9% the previous week, but slightly better than the weekly average of 64.9% achieved in 2025.
There were 10,055 patients who spent more than four hours in the emergency department in the week ending May 10, Public Health Scotland data showed, with 3,671 patients – 12.7% of all cases – there for at least eight hours.
This includes 1,478 people – 5.1% of patients – who spent 12 hours or more in A&E.
During the recent Holyrood election campaign, First Minister John Swinney had insisted progress was being made in tackling NHS waiting times.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie hit out at the SNP leader as the latest figures were published, saying: “For years John Swinney and the SNP have been promising to fix the crisis in A&E but once again long waits are on the rise.
“Week after week, thousands of people are stuck in waiting rooms for hours on end and NHS staff are under unbearable pressure – it needs to end.
“The SNP pledged urgent action to deal with this issue and now is the time to deliver it.
Lives are being needlessly and tragically lost because thousands of patients are suffering unacceptably long waiting times in our overwhelmed A&E departments
“Scottish Labour will continue to press the SNP to end dangerously long waits and give Scots the NHS they deserve.”
Scottish Conservative Tim Eagle was also critical of the First Minister, saying: “John Swinney should hang his head in shame at these grim and worsening figures.
“Lives are being needlessly and tragically lost because thousands of patients are suffering unacceptably long waiting times in our overwhelmed A&E departments.
“Frontline staff are working tirelessly for their patients, but they are working with one arm tied behind their backs because of the SNP’s dire workforce planning.”
Mr Eagle insisted the latest figures “should be a wake-up call for John Swinney”, adding the SNP leader “should be relentlessly focused on tackling this growing crisis in our health service, not the constitution”.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “As previously stated, A&E departments are facing sustained pressures and health boards continue to report high levels of hospital occupancy which is impacting on patient flow.
“We are investing £220 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow and minimise delayed discharges. This investment has supported the development of front-door frailty services in every health board in Scotland and the expansion of Hospital at Home capacity to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026.”