Edinburgh Western MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton has commented on the waiting times “crisis” that is emerging across Lothian A&E units.
Mr Cole-Hamilton, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health since 2016, made his comments following reports yesterday that the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary is on the brink of having to declare a major incident.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “Reports of Edinburgh patients waiting up to twelve hours for treatments are not just concerning, but they are potentially catastrophic for our healthcare service.
“The escalation of this so-called “ping-demic” is having devastating effects across our health services, and many of our hospitals are working at minimum staff capacity because of it. Of course, we must be vigilant, but our NHS simply cannot cope when faced with such reduced staffing measures.
“The Scottish Government need to come forward with concrete actions and urgent changes on isolation policies. That means a test and release system, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons and others.”