A&E 12 hour waits at record high despite fall in attendance

The figure exceeds the previous all-time high of 1,053 at the end of March.

It also compares to an average of just 34 for the same week over the four years prior to Covid, from 2016 to 2019. 

The Scottish Government target is for 95 per cent of A&E patients to be dealt with within four hours, but that has not been achieved since attendance levels fell at the height of the pandemic in 2020 and compliance with the four-hour turnaround time has also fallen to an all-time low of 64.9%.

Lengthy delays are associated with an increased risk of avoidable deaths.

The latest figures come despite a week-on-week reduction in total attendances, from 27,647 in the week ending June 26 to 25,913. 

There has been a sharp increase in 12-hour waits over the past year, despite average attendances remaining below pre-pandemic levels. 

READ MORE: Warning seriously ill patients 'downgraded' due to lack of ambulances 

Compliance against the four-hour standard has been below 80% since summer 2021.

Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Minister, Craig Hoy, said: “This should represent a new source of shame for the SNP Health Secretary.

"On every single measure, these are the most appalling A&E waiting times on record.

“Humza Yousaf’s flimsy NHS Recovery Plan and inaction is causing a greater crisis in our A&E departments.

“Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse on his watch, it does."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesman, Alex Cole-Hamilton, added: "Waiting times in our A&E departments have reached another record low once again.

"Week after week we are seeing NHS patients and staff in need of new hope, but little significant action from this SNP-Green Government to provide it.

"Yet despite this ever-deepening crisis this SNP-Green have decided now is the time to shift focus to an unwanted independence referendum.

"Patients deserve to be seen for treatment quickly and close to home, and staff shouldn’t be constantly overwhelmed, but after 15 years of SNP mismanagement that seems less likely than ever."

The latest figures coincide with an increase in hospital occupancy for patients with Covid. 

In the week ending July 3, there were 1,538 patients in hospital with the virus - up from 1,298 on June 26, but below the Omicron peak of 2,406 at the beginning of April. 

Data for May shows that around 23% of A&E attendances were resulting in a hospital admission. Equivalent data for June will not be available until early August.

Although the majority of patients with Covid are in hospital for other reasons (only around one in three now have the infection as their primary diagnosis), this still reduces the number of available beds due to requirements to isolate Covid patients or cohort them together in wards separate from non-Covid patients regardless of symptoms. 

READ MORE: Is the NHS really in 'recovery' from Covid if the number of patients treated has barely increased in a year?

High rates of Covid in the community are also leading to increased NHS staff absences, which means fewer hospital beds can be safely occupied. 

Outbreaks in care homes and Covid-related absences among social care staff also exacerbates delayed discharge from hospital, leading to hundreds of patients occupying hospital beds for weeks longer than necessary while they await a social care package or care home transfer.

More than one in 10 hospital beds in Scotland are being lost to delayed discharge on a daily basis. 

The latest surveillance by the Office for National Statistics estimates that one in 17 people in Scotland had Covid by the week ending June 30 - the highest virus rate in the UK. 

The latest wave has been driven by the BA.4 and, in particular the BA.5, Omicron sublineages, which are now causing an estimated 85% of cases in the UK. 

Colin Poolman, RCN Scotland Interim Director, said: “These statistics won’t come as a surprise to the nursing staff who continue to raise serious concerns about severe staffing shortages and the impact these are having on patient care.

"Staffing shortages across the hospital sector, community and social care all have a direct impact on the flow of patients into and out of emergency departments.

“Staff are working under unsustainable pressure and our members are exhausted, feel undervalued and are leaving the profession in large numbers.

"The Scottish Government must take urgent action to tackle unsafe staffing levels and recruit and retain enough staff to deliver safe and effective care.

"Long term solutions to the staffing crisis are needed, including fair pay, good employment terms and safe working conditions for nursing staff wherever they work.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "These statistics relate to the peak of the current [Covid] wave we are experiencing.

"In the four weeks leading up to Sunday 3 July, there was an over 100% increase in Covid-related staff absences.

"This is coming at a time when we have increased numbers of staff on well-deserved leave during school holidays.

"Over the last two years, our NHS has suffered the biggest shock of its 74-year existence. Despite this, Scotland continues to have the best performing A&Es in the UK."

The waiting times in England are not published weekly.

The latest figures, for the month of May, showed 73% of patients were seen within four hours, the same as Scotland's figure for that month.

However, the figure for type 1 A&Es, the largest Casualty departments, at just 60.2%, was much lower than Scottish equivalent (69.9%).