RECORD numbers of patients overwhelmed a hospital, leaving scores queuing in the accident and emergency department in a situation the Scottish Government has said was "totally unacceptable."
RECORD numbers of patients overwhelmed a hospital, leaving scores queuing in the accident and emergency department in a situation the Scottish Government has said was "totally unacceptable."
More patients than ever before arrived for treatment at Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride, last week.
Health board NHS Lanarkshire recorded its worst performance against the Scottish Government's much-scrutinised A&E waiting times target with 35 per cent of patients stuck in Hairmyres A&E for more than four hours.
A Government spokesman said: "This level of performance is unacceptable given it detrimentally affects individual patients and the staff having to provide care in very busy conditions."
He added: "Boards must have the appropriate escalation processes in place to manage these peaks."
The board has already said its hospitals have had a busy summer, with the number of people requiring care more typical of the winter.
Hospitals in other regions also saw an increase in emergencies last month, despite the mild weather and absence of major viral outbreaks.
More than 200 patients arrived at Hairmyres front door last Monday. NHS Lanarkshire said: "The hospital had the highest ever number of attendances in a single day, with 203 people turning up at the department. This was a 26 per cent increase on the previous Monday.
"Many of these patients were complex cases, with 64 having to be admitted to a hospital bed. This was also the highest number of emergency admissions the hospital has experienced in any single day."
The proportion of patients dealt with by Hairmyres A&E in under four hours was 69.4 per cent last Monday and 65.8 per cent last Tuesday. Official targets say 95 per cent should be dealt with in under four hours.
Last December the Medical Staff Association at Hairmyres wrote to the health board chairwoman, Neena Mahal, raising concern about clinical staff and resources being spread too thinly across the three A&Es in Lanarkshire. The letter also said the bed numbers and configuration of Hairmyres were "not adequate to cope" with demand.
Dr Jason Long, an A&E consultant who has just stood down as chairman of the College Of Emergency Medicine Scotland said there would always be peaks and troughs in patient numbers and the NHS had to be able to cope with them.
"Our ability to deal with the peaks is the barometer of the system," he said. "You cannot just have a system that deals with averages. If that happens you do not have a robust, sustainable system."
As the frail, elderly population in Scotland has grown Dr Long said hospitals were seeing more patients with complicated problems all year round.
As chairman of the College Of Emergency Medicine Scotland he brought the increasing A&E crisis to the attention of the Government in 2012 and has worked with ministers on a £50 million plan to address some of the problems.
Dr Long said while this had made a difference there were still a lot of "challenges" and added: "Lanarkshire is just one place in Scotland where we have to make changes that are in patients' best interests."
Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: "These figures underline the fact the NHS in Scotland is under real strain but Health Secretary Alex Neil tries to sweep these issues under carpet."
An NHS Lanarkshire spokesman apologised, adding: "We have developed a wide range of actions to improve patient flow through our A&E departments. Additional staff are brought in when required, along with increased access to allied health professionals and pharmacy support, to ensure patients are looked after when the department is experiencing peak activity."
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