Nearly 500 Scots forced to wait more than 12 hours in A&E as performance hits new record low

Dozens of Scots every day have been forced to wait more than 12 hours for treatment in accident-and-emergency departments, as the NHS crisis saw the wards record their worst ever performance.

Official figures for the first week of January showed only 77.9 per cent of patients were seen within the standard four hours, compared to a target of 95 per cent.

The total included a record 470 who had to wait more than 12 hours for care and 1,449 who were forced to endure eight-hour waits before they were admitted, transferred or discharged.

Around two-thirds of hospitals missed the treatment standard as it emerged the flu rate was four times higher than the first week of 2017. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the country’s largest health board, yesterday urged flu sufferers not to visit hospital patients.

Shona Robison, the embattled SNP Health Minister, argued that the waiting times had only deteriorated slightly from the previous week despite the latest surge in cases.

But Holyrood’s opposition parties repeated their charge that she had failed to prepare the NHS for a flu epidemic, despite warnings as long ago as September that one was imminent.

It also emerged that more than 40,000 bed days were lost in November because patients well enough to leave could not be discharged. The most common reason is the lack of a social care or care home place in the community.

The A&E figures were slightly worse than the performance recorded between Christmas and New Year (78 per cent), which was the previous record low since weekly reporting of statistics started in 2015.

Nicola Sturgeon and Ms Robison last week apologised to patients for delays over the festive period, which saw office workers in Lanarkshire redeployed to perform hospital cleaning duties.

But Miles Briggs, the Scottish Tories’ Shadow Health Minister, highlighted the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours, saying: "The SNP was repeatedly told about the challenges it would face this winter, but it seems those warnings have been ignored.

"Hardworking NHS staff right across the country are doing their best to make life easier for patients. But they're simply not getting the support they deserve from the SNP government at this challenging time of year."

The figures showed the number of people being forced to wait more than eight hours increased by a quarter compared to the previous week, while the number waiting more than 12 hours surged by 73 per cent.

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary met the four-hour target for only 63.1 per cent of patients and Hairmyres Hospital in Lanarkshire recording only 62.4 per cent.

Among the other hospitals to miss the four-hour target by a wide margin were Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow (67.6 per cent) – Scotland’s largest – and Glasgow Royal Infirmary (66.5 per cent).

Scotland’s doctors last week warned the Health Minister that she cannot dismiss the NHS crisis as an “inevitable” consequence of winter and concluded that “patients deserve better” all year round.

But Ms Robison, who has been visiting hospitals to see how staff are coping, said: "Emergency departments continue to feel the effects of the steep rise in flu cases. Patients with flu-like illnesses are cared for in single rooms or in wards with other patients with the same type of flu.

"This is to ensure infection control and to reduce the spread, and while it can often mean waiting a little longer in A&E to be admitted, it is paramount for the safety of all patients."

She also welcomed a six per cent drop in delayed discharges from hospital in November, compared to the previous year, although the 1,413 total was the highest in several months.