Scotland’s accident and emergency departments are in “permanent crisis mode” the Tories have claimed as the latest figures showed a rise in the number of patients waiting longer than the Scottish Government’s target time.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said, even though it was May, waiting times in A&E were “continuing to worsen with more and more patients suffering potentially deadly delays due to SNP inaction”.
He spoke out as the latest official figures showed a drop in the number of patients at A&E who were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
This fell to 66.2% of patients in the week ending May 19, down from 67.2% the previous week, Public Health Scotland data showed.
As a result, performance against A&E waiting times continues to be well below the Scottish Government target of having 95% of patients being admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
Of the 28,436 people who went to A&E for help in the week ending May 19, a total of 9,603 were there for longer than the four-hour target time – with this up from 9,156 the previous week.
There were 3,450 patients who spent more than eight hours in A&E, compared to 2,935 the previous week.
Meanwhile, the figures also showed 1,462 patients were in the emergency room for 12 hours or more, up from 1,243 the week before.
Dr Gulhane, who is a GP as well as a Tory MSP, hit out at the Government and said: “A&E departments are in permanent crisis mode on the SNP’s watch and they still don’t have a plan to fix this situation.
“We are now well into May, yet waiting times are continuing to worsen with more and more patients suffering potentially deadly delays due to SNP inaction.”
He said “dire workforce planning” was one reason why it was now “the shocking norm that nearly 10,000 patients had to wait over four hours before being treated in A&E”.
Meanwhile, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “These figures are the latest in a long line cataloguing the failures of the SNP Government to address the crisis in our A&E departments.
“Patients and staff deserve better. We need to see meaningful action taken to reverse the situation.”
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “Waiting times are longer than we want them to be for too many patients.
“The pressure being felt by our A&E departments is not unique to Scotland, with similar challenges being felt by right across the UK.
“To meet this challenge, the Scottish Government has invested over £19.5 billion for health and social care, and an extra £500 million for frontline boards.
“We continue to work with health boards to develop services, support improvement and reduce A&E waits.”