Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP Jeremy Balfour for the Lothians says the latest A&E waiting times in NHS Lothian are deplorable.
Jeremy Balfour’s call comes after the latest waiting time statistics showed that only 68.4% of patients across Scotland were seen within four hours of arriving at an emergency ward. This was the second-worst performance on record.
The SNP’s target is for 95% of A&E patients to be seen within four hours, but this has not been met since July 2020.
In NHS Lothian only 67.7% were seen within four hours.
Jeremy Balfour says that the crisis in NHS Lothian’s emergency wards is deepening yet SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf is still failing to get a grip on the situation.
Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP Jeremy Balfour said: “A&E waiting times in NHS Lothian are beyond disgraceful.
“This is happening week after week and our heroic staff in NHS Lothian simply cannot cope anymore. More and more patients in NHS Lothian are suffering excessive waits and we know that these lead to avoidable deaths.
“We need to finally see an urgent strategy to tackle these lengthy waits at A&E from SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf.
“He’s seen this crisis engulfing NHS Lothian for months yet has done nothing about it and is still pointing to his flimsy NHS Recovery Plan from last August.
“That’s not good enough and these figures could get even worse in NHS Lothian if he doesn’t get a grip once and for all.”
