South Scotland MSP Brian Whittle has hit out at the Scottish Government as A&E waiting times remained “utterly unacceptable”.
Brian’s comments come after figures showed that almost 30% of patients across Scotland were waiting more than 4 hours to be seen at A&E.
The SNP’s target is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours, but that target has not been met since July 2020 and the most recent figure was just 70.2%.
In NHS Ayrshire & Arran more than a quarter (26.1%) waited over four hours in A&E according to the latest stats.
With summer approaching and Covid rates continuing to fall, Brian says it’s unacceptable that so many patients are still facing excessive waiting times in A&E.
The Scottish Conservative MSP criticised the Scottish Government’s existing efforts to deal with the situation as “inadequate” and challenged Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to act.
Brian Whittle MSP said:
“The last few months have seen big falls in Covid numbers and much of live returning to something like normal, but A&E waiting times in Ayrshire & Arran and across Scotland remain utterly unacceptable.
As with so many other parts of the NHS the delays and additional pressures created by Covid-19 have yet to be properly addressed by the Scottish Government.
Ultimately these excessive waiting times have the potential to put people’s lives at risks as they wait for diagnosis and treatment.
The Scottish Government’s last plan for NHS recovery is clearly inadequate and not up to the task. Months and months of missed waiting times targets have proven that.
It’s time for the Health Secretary to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new approach that can cut waiting times in A&E and deliver a better service for patients.”
