Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Hundreds of patients waited more than 12 hours in A&E in first week of 2018

Health secretary Shona Robison
Health secretary Shona Robison

New figures show that 470 people spent more than 12 hours waiting to be seen in Scotland’s Accident and Emergency departments in just one week.

Across the country, A&E staff managed to treat 77.9% of patients within the four-hour target in the first week of January, well below the Scottish Government’s 95% target.

However, north and north-east health boards were among the best performing in the country during the week, after a difficult period during a major winter flu outbreak.

NHS Grampian and NHS Highland both admitted, transferred or discharged 89% of patients within four hours, up from 87% at both boards in the previous week.

NHS Western Isles processed 95% within four hours, down from 100% in the previous week, while NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney both dealt with 98% in the target period.

Hospital A&E departments cared for 25,280 patients in the first week of the year, according to official figures, of which 1,449 – or 5.7% of all patients – spent more than eight hours waiting, compared to 1,156 who had to wait this long in the last week of December.

Meanwhile the number of patients in A&E for more than 12 hours rose from 272 the previous week to 470, including three in NHS Grampian’s hospitals, but zero in the Highlands and islands.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said hospitals were continuing to “feel the effect of the steep rise in flu cases”, after figures showed the flu rate in Scotland for the first week of 2018 was four times higher than the same week last year.

Infection control measures meant some patients had had to wait “a little longer” in A&E to be admitted, she added.

But Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said the Scottish Government had “ignored” warnings about the challenges winter would bring.

Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “It might be a new year, but the SNP is still failing Scotland’s NHS.”

Banffshire and Buchan Coast SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson said: “Despite increased pressures from the number of flu cases and additional winter pressures, NHS Grampian has managed to increase the number of patients seen within four hours of visiting A&E.

“The work of all health and social care staff who are delivering such fantastic patient care in this tough period is commendable.”