Long waits at Scotland's A&E 'putting patients at serious risk'

Long waits at accident and emergency (A&E) departments in Scotland continue to put patient safety at “serious risk”, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned.

New figures from Public Health Scotland show 78 per cent of patients visiting A&E in the week to January 23 were seen and admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

This is an increase on the previous week, but still below the Scottish Government target of 95%

It comes as the number of planned operations across NHS Scotland dropped 13% from November to December, to 17,835.

Dr John Thomson, vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Scotland, said the college was concerned poor A&E performance times are becoming the “status quo”.

“With fewer attendances performance has plateaued, but be in no doubt that the health service and its staff in Scotland remain under unprecedented pressure and increasing burnout,” he said.

Dr Thomson added: “The impact of this continued poor performance is distress and moral injury to staff and serious discomfort and risk to the safety of patients.

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Source: The Scotsman, 2 February 2022