'Extreme' waits at A&E 'unacceptable and dangerous’, say emergency doctors

The number of people facing “extreme long waits” at Scottish A&E departments is “unacceptable and dangerous”, emergency doctors have said.

Despite the number of people attending accident and emergency going down, the number of patients waiting 12 hours or more increased in June.

According to Public Health Scotland (PHS), more than 13,300 (9.7%) patients in Scotland waited more than eight hours, and 5,354 people waited more than 12 hours (3.9%).

Overall, 70.8% of Scots were seen within the four-hour target, compared to 71.8% the month before. These figures are above the 68.4% average for last year.

“Yes, we have been able to move some patients through our departments efficiently, but thousands of others – who are most likely to be the most unwell and with multiple and more complex needs – have been forced to endure longer stays,” said Dr Fiona Hunter, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s vice president for Scotland.

“A fact that is unacceptable, and dangerous.

“We know that the crisis in A&E is something our communities are deeply worried about. Politicians should respond to those concerns now and address these issues.

“Otherwise, in a few short months, we will be staring down the barrel of another awful winter where patient safety will again be put at risk.”

According to PHS, the proportion of people waiting at A&E for more than eight hours or more than 12 hours has increased since May.

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie agreed that “lives are being put at risk by the constant crisis in A&E”.

“Patients are suffering dangerously long waits for urgent care and staff are exhausted from trying to paper over the cracks of SNP failure,” she said.

Health secretary Neil Gray said Scotland’s core A&E departments have consistently been the best-performing in the UK over the past decade.

“We are determined to drive improvements and remain in close contact with health boards to ensure they have the support they need to deal with the sustained pressure we are seeing,” he said.

“We are investing £200m to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges. Building on success already seen last year, we expect the additional funding committed to result in more than 300,000 appointments and procedures this year.

“To help relieve pressure on teams 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. These are just some of the measures we are undertaking to shift the balance of care from acute to community.”