Accident and emergency waits at best level for almost two years, figures show

Scotland’s accident and emergency departments are “moving in the right direction”, the health secretary insisted, as new monthly figures showed the best performance against waiting times targets for almost two years.

Neil Gray welcomed data for May, which showed 71.9% of patients in A&E were seen and then either admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours.

That is the best performance since July 2023 – although it continues to be significantly below the Scottish Government target of having 95% of A&E patients dealt with inside the target time.

However, with separate weekly figures showing that in the seven days to June 22, the four-hour target was missed for almost a third of patients, the Conservatives insisted Gray and First Minister John Swinney should be “ashamed”

Brian Whittle, the Tory public health spokesman, said it is “intolerable that our NHS is still under winter-level pressure despite it being the height of summer”.

He said this shows the “damaging consequences of years of SNP incompetence” as he hit out at the Scottish Government’s “woeful workforce planning” which meant “almost 5,000 people were left languishing in A&E for 12 hours during the month of May”.

Whittle said: “We know these delays lead to the needless loss of life, all whilst dedicated NHS frontline workers are being hung out to dry and being pushed to breaking point.

“Neil Gray can’t keep ignoring this crisis and hoping it goes away.”

Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: “It is a sorry state of affairs when thousands of Scots are still having to face lengthy waits to get help, despite SNP promises to get a grip of this issue.

“It is unacceptable that the number of those waiting over eight hours in A&E rose by 492 people, taking the toll to more than 13,000 patients in just one month.

“This proves once again that the SNP are all talk when it comes to tackling the problems facing our health service, while letting down people across the country.”

The comments came after Public Health Scotland data for May showed that of the 148,738 people who went to A&E for help, 41,848 waited longer than four hours to be admitted, transferred, or discharged.

That includes 13,024 patients who waited more than eight hours, with this amounting to 9% of patients over the month, as well as 4,985 (3.4%) who were there for a minimum of 12 hours.

Weekly figures from Public Health Scotland show 67.5% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, with 9,222 patients waiting there for longer than the target time.

This includes 2,852 patients – 10% of A&E cases that week – who were there for at least eight hours.

Meanwhile, 1,104 patients – 3.9% of the weekly total – were there for 12 hours or more, although the number of patients having waits of over eight or 12 hours was down from the previous week.

Gray said: “Scotland’s core A&E sites have been the best performing in the UK for a decade.

“Latest monthly A&E performance continues to improve, with four-hour performance at its best since July 2023.

“We are also seeing long waits decrease, with waits of over 12 hours in May reducing by 17.1% compared to the same month last year.

“This is welcome progress and shows we are moving in the right direction.

“We know some people are still waiting too long for treatment, and we are determined to address this and drive further improvement.”

He insisted £200 million of investment from the Scottish Government will “help reduce waiting times, improve flow and capacity through hospitals and cut delayed discharge”.

The health secretary continued: “We are determined to shift the balance of care from acute to community and to do this, we will deliver direct access to specialist frailty teams in every emergency department by summer 2025 and expand Hospital at Home to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026.”