NICOLA Sturgeon is facing fresh calls to sack her Health Secretary Humza Yousaf - with Tories claiming that more than 56,000 Scots have spent at least half a day in accident and emergency since he was given the job.
Both the Conservatives and Labour called on the First Minister to dismiss Mr Yousaf, who has come under fire as the NHS in Scotland struggles to meet waiting time targets.
Scottish Conservative analysis found that 56,228 patients had spent at least 12 hours waiting to be seen in A&E since Mr Yousaf became Health Secretary following the May 2021 Holyrood election.
In his first week in the post, 113 patients had to wait half a day or more, the Tories said.
However, they added in the week ending December 4 2022 a total of 1,276 patients spent at least 12 hours the emergency room.
The Scottish Government’s target is that 95 per cent of patients in A&E should be treated and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour calculated that between January and October 2022 a total of 42,100 Scots spent more than 12 hours in A&E.
That compares with 13,229 patients in the whole of 2021, Labour said, and was almost 10 times higher than the total for 2020, when 4,266 were waiting for 12 hours or more.
The Tories accused Mr Yousaf of “presiding over complete chaos in our A&E departments”, while Labour claimed A&E services have been “plunged into a deadly freefall by Humza Yousaf’s dangerous negligence”.
Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Everyone knows Humza Yousaf is presiding over complete chaos in our A&E departments, but this exposes just how catastrophic his tenure has been. He has long given up on hitting the four-hour waiting time target, but now we see the staggering rise in patients waiting half a day or more on his watch.”
Dr Gulhane added: “Humza Yousaf is literally putting more and more lives needlessly on the line...This is further damning evidence of why he must be sacked.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “The facts are plain for all to see - Scotland’s A&E services have been plunged into a deadly freefall by Humza Yousaf’s dangerous negligence.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said the situation was the result of pandemic backlogs, Brexit-related staff shortages and increases in winter viruses such as flu and added: “This is of course not unique to Scotland, Scotland’s A&E continue to outperform A&E services across the UK.
"Scotland already has record numbers of NHS staff and we are recruiting more staff as part of our £600 million winter plan and £50 million investment is targeting A&E waits through services that allow patients to be treated at home or in the community.”
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