Health Secretary ‘encouraged’ by improvement in A&E waiting times

Health Secretary Neil Gray has said he is “encouraged” by an improvement in accident and emergency waiting times – with weekly and monthly figures both showing an improvement against a key target.

Despite this the Scottish Government was accused of having left the NHS “stuck in a state of dangerous chaos”, with opposition MSPs concerned long waits for treatment have been “normalised”.

However, the latest weekly data from Public Health Scotland showed that of the 27,441 people who went to accident and emergency in the week ending March 23, almost seven out of 10 (68.2%) were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

That is up from 67.5% the previous week, and higher than the weekly average that was recorded over 2024 of 64.7%

Meanwhile 2,619 patients (9.5%) spent eight hours or more in A&E, with 1,069 (3.9%) there for at least 12 hours or more.

In both cases the proportion of patients having these longer waits was down from the previous week, and was also below the weekly average from 2024.

Separate figures for the month of February showed 67.7% of the 120,002 patients who sought help at A&E were admitted, transferred to discharged within the four-hour target time.

While this continues to be well below the Scottish Government’s 95% target, it marked an improvement from January’s performance of 66.3%.

We are determined to drive further improvement, but this shows we are moving in the right direction.

Over the course of February there were 14,044 patients (12%) who waited more than eight hours in A&E, with 6,265 patients (5.3%) there for a minimum of 12 hours – with the proportion of patients having these longer waits lower than in January.

Mr Gray said: “I am encouraged by the continued improvement in A&E performance with latest weekly figures showing more than two-thirds of patients were seen within the four-hour target.

“We are determined to drive further improvement but this shows we are moving in the right direction.”

The Health Secretary accepted A&E departments “are still under sustained pressure” with the high levels of hospital occupancy making it harder for patients to be moved on to wards.

But he said £200 million of targeted investment from the Scottish Government would help “improve patient flow, enhance capacity and tackle delayed discharge”.

He added the operational improvement plan published on Monday would seek to move more care into the community, with expansion of the Hospital at Home service – where people can get hospital level care without leaving home.

Meanwhile, he said introducing specialist teams for the frailest patients in every emergency department by this summer would help them “bypass A&E and receive the specialist care they need in the most suitable location for them”.

However, opposition MSPs voiced concerns that long waits were “commonplace” and being “normalised”.

Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “It’s clear our NHS is stuck in a state of dangerous chaos under the SNP.”

She added: “The worst of winter may have passed, but thousands of Scots were still left languishing in waiting rooms for hours on end last month.

“These long waits put lives at risk, but under the SNP they have become commonplace, despite the best efforts of hardworking staff.”

She claimed a “string of SNP first ministers and health secretaries have all failed to get to grips with this crisis, including John Swinney” – with Ms Baillie insisting a change in government is needed to “get our NHS back on track”.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton meanwhile said “the SNP have somehow normalised a situation where more than a thousand people are waiting over half a day at A&E every week”.

He added: “In those nightmarish conditions, staff burnout is inevitable.

“We cannot cut A&E waits if we don’t fix the problems in social care and free up space in hospitals. That’s why Scottish Liberal Democrats would help people leave hospital on time and access care packages with a new UK-wide minimum wage for care workers that is £2 higher.”