A&E patients waiting more than four hours highest since 2019

Almost a fifth of the 25,418 patients who attended A&E in the week ending July 11 waited more than four hours to be admitted.

A&E patients waiting more than four hours highest since 2019 PA Ready

The proportion of patients seen in Accident and Emergency departments within the four-hour target has fallen to the lowest level since 2019, the latest NHS Scotland figures show.

Almost a fifth (19.9%) of the 25,418 patients who attended A&E in the week ending July 11 waited more than four hours to be admitted, transferred or discharged.

There were 712 patients who waited longer than eight hours, and a further 167 faced a wait of more than 12 hours.

The Scottish Government’s target is for 95% of patients to wait no longer than four hours, although this has not been met since July 2020.

The latest weekly figure of 80.1% compliance with the target is the lowest level recorded since December 2019.

Across Scotland, NHS Forth Valley is the worst-performing health board, with just 65.1% of 1200 patients seen within four hours, followed by NHS Lanarkshire (68.5%) and then NHS Fife (79.4%).

The island health boards of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles were the only ones to exceed the 95% target, achieving 98.3%, 96.6% and 95.3% respectively.

The latest figures also show the total number of A&E attendances have been falling since reaching a pandemic peak of 28,492 during the first week of June.

STV News is now on WhatsApp

Get all the latest news from around the country

Follow STV News
Follow STV News on WhatsApp

Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country

WhatsApp channel QR Code