9 Jan 2018
Waiting times performance in Scotland’s casualty departments sank to a new low between Christmas and New Year, latest figures have revealed.
The 21.6 per cent forced to wait beyond the target four hours is significantly worse than the previous poorest performance of 18.9 per cent a few weeks ago.
And in NHS Forth Valley in the final week of the year, just 57.3 per cent of accident and emergency patients were seen to on time.
The figures also revealed, in that single week, 272 people had to wait longer than 12 hours in A&E.
That compares to just two patients for the same period last year.
NHS Lothian was singled out for criticism after discrepancies were found with data previously published by the health board.
As a result, ISD Scotland published a separate set of national figures which didn’t include the data of Scotland’s second largest health board.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said:
“It’s widely accepted that winter is the toughest time for the NHS in terms of getting people seen to on time.
“But these figures are nothing short of a disgrace.
“Just when you think the SNP’s performance on this cannot get any worse, new statistics come out showing further regressions.
“The situation is so bad now that, in some health boards, barely half of A&E patients were seen on time.
“It would also appear NHS Lothian has some serious questions to answer.
“Years after the health board’s waiting times scandal, ISD Scotland doesn’t seem to have full confidence in the organisation when it comes to providing accurate and trustworthy records.
“If Scotland’s official statistician can’t trust NHS Lothian, what are patients supposed to think?”
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