Half-day waits in A&E 139 times higher than in 2008, say Lib Dems
The number of people who waited more than half a day in accident and emergency has reached a new record high this year – with analysis from the Liberal Democrats showing the total is 139 times higher than when the SNP came to power.
A total of 64,657 people waited 12 hours or more to be admitted, transferred or discharged in A&E between January and October this year.
That is higher than the 58,963 patients who had a 12-hour wait in the whole of 2023, and compares to 465 people who faced the same delay in 2008 – the first full year the SNP was in power at Holyrood.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “2023 was already the worst year on record in A&E, yet 2024 has already surpassed it with months left to spare.
“Compared to the early days of this SNP Government in 2008, 139 times more people are waiting over 12 hours at A&E.”
His comments came in the wake of warnings from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine that Scotland’s A&E departments are on a “fast-track to chaos” this winter.Health Secretary Neil Gray has accepted that NHS performance will “fluctuate” as “pressures increase” over the busy winter period.
But Mr Cole-Hamilton declared: “It is now beyond clear that the SNP’s NHS recovery plan has utterly failed.
“It was supposed to improve conditions for staff and patients in A&E, and across the NHS, but these figures show that after three years of this plan, conditions aren’t just flat-lining – they’re getting worse.
“NHS staff have been raising the alarm about conditions for years, but this SNP Government has failed to give them the beds and safe staffing they need to do their job and keep people safe.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats would overhaul the SNP’s failed NHS recovery plan, bring forward measures to address burnout among staff, and help people leave hospital on time with a care package through a new UK-wide minimum wage for care workers that is £2 higher.”
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “While Scotland’s core A&E departments have been the best performing in the UK for the last eight years, performance is still not where we want it to be.
“Health services everywhere face huge pressure in light of the pandemic – and ours is no exception.
“Our 2025-26 Budget provides record funding of £21bn for health and social care – with NHS boards receiving an additional £2 billion to deliver key frontline services.
“We want to make progress on improving our NHS but to do that Parliament must back our Budget to unlock investment to drive long-term and lasting improvements.”
