Dip in Scottish A&E performance recorded

A&E at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary ERI. Picture: Greg Macvean

THE latest hospital accident and emergency (A&E) waiting times show a slight dip in weekly performance.

The new figures show that in the week ending Sunday April 5, A&E units in Scotland dealt with 26,261 patients.

A total of 91% were seen, treated and either discharged or admitted within the target time of four hours, a slight drop from 91.3% in the previous week.

Of those, 231 patients, or 0.9%, spent more than eight hours in A&E, while 17 patients, or 0.1%, were there for more than 12 hours.

The Scottish Government has set an interim goal of treating 95% of people in four hours, in advance of meeting the full target of 98%.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Over the past week nearly every health board in Scotland saw more than nine out of 10 patients within four hours at our core A&E sites and I would like to thank NHS staff for their continued hard work to achieve this.

“This week’s slight drop in performance shows that health boards must now focus on sustaining the reduced waiting times we have recently seen and moving towards meeting our world leading targets.

“Reassuringly long waits are also continuing to remain low, with less than 1% of patients waiting for more than eight hours - although we are clear that this must still reduce even further.

“We are continuing to support health boards in every way possible. For example, we recently confirmed our continued support to areas experiencing challenges. This included committing £5 million from the £31.5 million Performance Fund to support improvement across NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde to relieve pressure at the front door of the hospital.

“We also expanded the role of the A&E performance support team, put into the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley in January, to support the Western Infirmary by building on lessons learned in Paisley and sharing good practice across all NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde sites.”