New records set for longest waits at Scottish hospital A&E departments

New records have been set for the number of people waiting for hours at accident and emergency departments in Scotland.

A total of 19,806 (15.2%) people waited over eight hours at A&E departments in January and 10,374 (8%) waited for more than 12 hours.

The statistics published by Public Health Scotland also show the number of patients seen within the four-hour target was the worst since the same time last year – the third worst on record.

January is often the worst month for long waits at accident and emergency.

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The Scottish Government said emergency departments were “facing sustained pressures” with hospitals too full to cope with the flow of patients leading to delays at the front door.

“A&E performance is impacted by pressures from across the wider Health and Social Care system which is why we are taking a whole system approach as we work with Health Boards to deliver sustained improvement,” a spokesperson said.

The Scottish Government said it was investing over £220m to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges.

It said it was providing up to £20m for increased social care – including money for care at home and extra staffing to support emergency departments.

The Public Health Scotland report is available here.

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP said: “These horrific and worsening statistics expose an NHS in perpetual crisis because of SNP incompetence.

“Week in, week out, tens of thousands of patients are left stranded in overcrowded A&E departments.

“We know these horrific delays cost lives despite the work that frontline medics are putting in.”