The number of patients enduring “dangerous” waits of 12 hours or more in A&E has reached its highest level in eight months.
Emergency department figures have been released by Public Health Scotland a day after First Minister John Swinney pledged to create walk-in GP centres across the country.
Official data showed that a total of 1,604 (5.9%) of patients spend more than half a day in accident and emergency in the week ending October 5.
That is up from 1,431 (5.2%) the previous week and it is the highest number of people experiencing 12 hour waits in A&E since February 23.
The number of patients spending eight hours or more in A&E also increased to 3,667 (13.6%), according to the latest weekly figures – up from 3,552 (13%).
A Scottish Government target aims to have 95% of patients in A&E seen and subsequently admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours – but this has not been achieved since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
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In the week ending October 5, this was achieved for just 63.9% of patients, up from 63.1% the previous week.
But of the 27,055 who went to A&E for help over the course of the week, 9,755 were there for longer than the four-hour target time.
Health Secretary Neil Gray accepted that A&E departments are “facing sustained pressure” adding that “higher levels of hospital occupancy” are “impacting patient flow and leading to delays at the front door”.
However, opposition parties insisted the figures were “appalling” and “a disgrace”.
Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “The SNP’s inaction is resulting in a permanent crisis in Scotland’s NHS and things will only get worse as the full force of winter pressures hit.”
Dr Gulhane said: “These appalling A&E figures show that the SNP’s mismanagement of our NHS is continuing to put lives at risk.
“Patients are still waiting far too long to be seen in emergency departments — and the number enduring dangerous waits of over eight or 12 hours has increased yet again.”
He added: “Scotland’s dedicated NHS staff are being pushed to breaking point, yet Neil Gray still has no plan to fix this emergency.”
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Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie, who is also the party's spokeswoman for health, said: “John Swinney claims his Government is doing all it can to cut waiting times – but these figures show the problem is getting worse.
“It is a disgrace that thousands of people in Scotland are having to endure waits of more than eight hours at A&E, with more than 1,500 waiting longer than 12 hours to get help.
“It is also deeply troubling that this is the state of our health service before we get into the winter months, when we know there is additional seasonal pressure on our NHS.”
She added: “The truth is that this SNP Government has no meaningful plan, no strategy, and no ideas to save our NHS.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said while eight and 12-hour waits at A&E used to be “vanishingly rare” they had now “become the norm”.
Mr Gray, however, said the Scottish Government was “working closely with boards to ensure they have the necessary support to manage peaks in demand”.
The Health Secretary added the issues in A&E were “not unique to Scotland, with all other UK nations experiencing similar pressures”, saying that “despite this, Scotland’s core A&E departments have consistently outperformed those in England and Wales over the past decade”.
He continued: “We are investing £200 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges.
“We will provide direct access to specialist frailty teams in every A&E and expand Hospital at Home capacity to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026. These measures will help us shift the focus of care from acute to community.”
During his keynote speech at SNP conference in Aberdeen on Monday, the First Minister pledged to end the 8am rush for a doctors appointment by launching 15 walk-in centres across the country.
The first will be opened within the next 12 months, and will be open seven days a week from noon to 8pm, with a pledge to increase the number of GP appointments by one million.
But the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) said it was concerned the change would not address issues facing the profession, namely a lack of staff and “unmanageable workload”.
The Royal College of General Practitioners said the plans did not address “critical workforce shortages”.
