Funding of £8m announced to support NHS through extreme winter pressure
It comes after the latest figures revealed 2,500 people in Scotland waited longer than 12 hours in A&E over Christmas
Last updated 10th Jan 2023
Funding of at least £8million has been announced to help support Scotland’s NHS through its most difficult winter ever.
Measures outlined by the Health Secretary include around 300 additional care home beds, and efforts to recruit around 200 new starts for the NHS 24 call handling service.
Updating MSPs at Holyrood, Humza Yousaf said: “This is the most challenging winter the NHS in Scotland has ever faced and the immediate pressure will continue for the coming weeks. My thanks to all health and social care staff for their incredible efforts during these exceptionally challenging times.
Delayed discharge remains "one of the most significant issues"
“We are ensuring all possible actions are being taken to support services, and the additional measures I have outlined today will help relieve some of the extreme pressure Health Boards are facing. We know one of the most significant issues our NHS is facing is delayed discharge, that is why I have announced further support to buy additional capacity in the care sector.
“NHS 24 has a vital role in referring people to appropriate urgent care services outside of hospitals and plans to increase staff numbers over the course of winter, will help the service deal with increases in demand.
“Emergency care will always be there for those who need it, but for many people, the best advice and support might be available on the NHS Inform website or the NHS 24 App, or by calling NHS 24, so I would encourage people to make use of these services as many are already doing.”
Number of patients waiting 12 hours or more in A&E hits 2,500
It comes after the latest Public Health Scotland figures revealed more than 2,500 Scots spend 12 hours or more in accident and emergency in the last week of 2022 - a record high for the number of patients waiting this long.
The week ending January 1 also saw almost 5,000 patients have to wait more than eight hours to be treated - with this again a record.
The figures - branded "truly terrifying" by Scottish Tories - came after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that the country's hospitals are "almost completely full".
While the Scottish Government has set the target of having 95% of patients in A&E either admitted, transferred of discharged within four hours, the final week of December 2022 saw just 56% of patients dealt with within this time - the second worst performance ever.
Of the 24,685 patients who went to A&E over the course of that week, 10,866 were there for more than four hours, Public Health Scotland data showed.
This included 4,977 who were there for more than eight hours, and 2,506 people who spent at least half a day in the emergency room.
In three health board areas: NHS Forth Valley, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Fife; the four-hour target was missed for more than half of all patients, with NHS Forth Valley seeing 42.8% within this time, compared to 44.6% in NHS Lanarkshire and 49.5% in NHS Fife.
Calls continue for health secretary to be sacked
At Glasgow's flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, just 37.1% of patients in accident and emergency were dealt with within fours hours - the lowest proportion of any of Scotland's hospitals.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, described the figures as "truly terrifying", as he demanded Health Secretary Humza Yousaf "should be sacked immediately".
"How much more damning evidence does the First Minister need to accept that the hapless health secretary is out of his depth," Dr Gulhane said.
He insisted: "Humza Yousaf is presiding over carnage in our A&E departments, with patients waiting longer and longer to be treated.