91,788 waited more than four hours in A&E last year, says Scottish Labour

More than 90,000 hospital patients waited in accident and emergency (A&E) for longer than a key time target last year, according to Scottish Labour. The Scottish Government wants to see at least 95% of A&E patients seen, admitted and transferred or discharged within four hours. But Labour said figures it has obtained show that 91,788 patients waited more than four hours in A&E in 2016. Some 7,179 people waited more than eight hours and 1,021 patients spent over 12 hours in hospital emergency departments last year, the party said. Of the patients waiting more than four hours, 32,616 were in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, the figures show. The Scottish Government said A&E departments are still maintaining a high level of performance and are out-performing other parts of the UK. Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: "Our NHS staff do life-changing and life-saving work but it has been clear for some time that they are not getting the support they need from the SNP government, and the result of this is more than 90,000 patients waiting longer than the SNP's target. "We are seeing almost daily now reports of hospitals struggling to cope with demand.''

He went on: "We have seen a decade of SNP mismanagement of our NHS. Under the Nationalists' watch we have seen a workforce crisis develop across the NHS from primary care to specialist consultants. "That's what happens when the plan for the NHS is built around short-term crisis management rather than for the long term.''

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "Under this government, the number of people waiting four hours has reduced by almost a third, with almost 34,000 fewer patients having waits of over four hours. "Nationally, our emergency departments are still maintaining a high level of performance and Scotland's A&E waiting times have consistently outperformed other areas of the UK for the past 21 months - the latest comparable published data shows that Scotland's core performance was 93.1% compared to 83.7% in England and 77.9% in Wales in October. "We want to see long-term, sustainable change put in place in order to maintain high levels of performance during peaks and troughs, which is why we are committed to focus support in this key patient care priority.

"We have put record investment and increased levels of staffing into our hospitals to achieve this - including an extra £3 million for health boards to support their preparations for winter."

• Scottish News