SNP ministers have been accused of “apathy” over accident and emergency services, despite the latest weekly figures suggesting an improvement in performance.
Official data indicated in the week ending April 19 that 64.7% of the 27,216 people who went to A&E were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
This is up from 62.6% the previous week, but is slightly lower than the average of 64.9% achieved in 2025 – as well as being well below the Scottish Government target of having 95% of A&E patients either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
The most recent Public Health Scotland data suggested that in the seven days up to April 19, the four-hour target was missed for 9,610 patients.
Meanwhile, there were 3,246 people – 11.9% of cases – who spent more than eight hours in A&E, including 1,396 (5.1% of all patients) who were there for a minimum of 12 hours.
In both cases, the proportion of patients having these longer waits was down on the previous week, and below the weekly average recorded in 2025.
Despite this, Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “These figures are a damning indictment of the SNP’s two decades of failure in charge of our NHS.
“Far too many patients are suffering intolerable delays at A&E every single week on the SNP’s watch, and we know these delays cost lives.”
He said: “This is through no fault of dedicated staff who simply don’t have the resources to meet demand.
“Scotland’s NHS cannot afford another five years of catastrophic SNP mismanagement and failed recovery plans.
“We already know John Swinney will prioritise another referendum over reducing A&E waiting times.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: “In the week the SNP lay out their plans for their first 100 days, thousands of Scots were left waiting in A&E for hours and patients and staff are being failed.”
The SNP’s apathy over A&E waiting times shows how little they care about the state of our NHS. We cannot let the current state of affairs become the norm
Speaking out on the issue ahead of next week’s Scottish election, she said: “The SNP’s apathy over A&E waiting times shows how little they care about the state of our NHS. We cannot let the current state of affairs become the norm.
“Their refusal to talk about their own record and instead focus their first 100 days on their fantasy independence plan shows that they are completely out of ideas on how to fix this shambles of their own making.
“The crisis in A&E shows Scotland needs change and we have just nine days to deliver it.”
However, Collette Stevenson, SNP candidate for East Kilbride, said: “Under John Swinney’s experienced leadership, the SNP has a plan for Scotland’s health service and it is working – long waiting times are down for 10 months in a row, operation numbers up, and we are opening GP walk-in centres all over the country.
“John Swinney is determined to see through our plan and a re-elected SNP government will work tirelessly to carry on improving Scotland’s NHS.”