Little improvement in A&E performance

There was little improvement in the performance of Scottish A&E departments against government targets in the last week of February.

The second weekly waiting times report shows 86.9 per cent of people were treated and discharged within four hours, against a government target of 95 per cent. This compares to 86 per cent during the previous week. Twelve of the 32 A&E departments covered made the target, but 186 patients across Scotland waited more than 12 hours during the week.

The figures are close to those in England for that week.

Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Jenny Marra said the SNP had let down patients. 

"Despite repeated promises from Shona Robison to get on top of the problem, only 12 of 32 A&E departments in Scotland have met their target.

“The latest weekly figures show that, under the SNP, nearly 200 patients waited more than 12 hours in our A&E departments and over 500 waited more than 8 hours in one week alone. That simply is not good enough. We need to give our NHS the support it needs to deliver the care Scots deserve," she said.

Today’s figures are the second publication of these new statistics, which include total attendances and waiting times for the 32 Emergency Departments in Scotland which provide a 24 hour emergency medicine consultant-led service. They show there were 25,448 attendances to the 32 emergency departments.