Health workers praised as A&E waiting-times target met
24,764 people attended A&E in the first week of July, of which 95.1% were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
Last updated 11th Jul 2017
Scotland's accident-and-emergency (A&E) departments have met a key waiting-times target.
The latest figures show 24,764 people attended A&E in the week ending July 2, of which 95.1% were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
The figure is up from 94.5% in the previous week and meets the Scottish Government target for 95% of cases to be dealt with in four hours.
A total of 72 patients spent more than eight hours in an emergency department while just one person waited for more than 12 hours.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “I'd like to thank all the health and social care staff who have contributed to the good performance seen in A&E departments over this week.
“Scotland has had the best-performing emergency departments in the UK for more than two years. This has only been possible thanks to the hard work of NHS and social care workers.
“We are seeing progress across Scotland and it is encouraging that these latest weekly statistics show performance above the four-hour standard.
“However, we know that the challenge is to ensure that we maintain this target on a consistent basis as performance can fluctuate from week to week.
“That is why we are continuing to work closely with boards to take action to minimise long waits and improve patient flow through hospitals and into community care.
“This has been backed by an additional £9 million of investment to help fund this work and I am confident that it will lead to sustained improvements.