RCEM: Tackling A&E waiting times must be top priority for Scottish government

Curbing sky rocketing A&E waiting times must be the number one priority for the Scottish government with winter just around the corner.   

That is the call from The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) Scotland as A&E performance data for July represented the worst July since records began in 2011 for extended wait times in Emergency Departments.  

Data released yesterday (Tuesday 3 September 2024) by Public Health Scotland shows in A&Es across Scotland in July, 5,593 patients waited 12 hours or longer before being seen, admitted, discharged, or transferred.

This is double the number of people who waited this long in July last year. 

The data also shows long waits have increased significantly since the 2010s.  

Since July 2017, for example, the numbers of people waiting four hours or more has increased by nearly seven times (5553 to 38,379), eight hours or more by 53 times (248 to 13,146), and 12 hours or more by 279 times (20 to 5,593). This was despite attendances only increasing by 0.9% in the same period. 

Delays in discharging patients is a key reason that doctors cannot admit patients into hospitals from their Emergency Departments, therefore causing long waits. In July, there were 61,165 days spent in hospital by people who were well enough to be discharged but unable to be due to a lack of social care provisions. This is equivalent to 167 years.  

Dr John-Paul Loughrey, RCEM Vice President for Scotland said: “The Scottish government must take heed and put measures in place to end long wait times in our Emergency Departments.   

“These staggering statistics are deeply worrying for the people of Scotland who are facing incredibly long and tiring waits despite it being summer. We have been dealing with ‘winter levels’ of pressure, which does not bode well as we start to head into the colder months. The first day of winter is just three months away, which will inevitably heap pressure on the health care system.   

“Continuing to focus on diverting patients away from A&E rather than addressing the capacity problems will not avert the coming crisis. These statistics aren’t just numbers. They are people who have come to our Emergency Departments needing emergency care. They deserve better. Our health care colleagues deserve better.” 

A graphical representation of the data can be found here.  

The full data set can be found on the RCEM website.