Tag: worst figures on record

Emergency Department performance figures worst on record – YET AGAIN

‘Health system remains in dire crisis’

The latest performance figures for March 2022 for Emergency Departments across Scotland show:

  • There were 111,996 attendances at major Emergency Departments
  • 68.4% of patients were seen within four-hours
  • This is the lowest four-hour performance since records began
  • This meant that over 35,000 patients were waiting more than four-hours to be seen, admitted, discharged, or transferred.
  • 10,475 patients were waiting more than eight-hours before being seen, admitted, discharged, or transferred
  • This is the highest number of eight-hour waits since records began
  • It is a 65% increase on the previous month, February 2022
  • It means that around one in 10 patients were waiting eight-hours or more in a major Emergency Department
  • 3,889 patients were waiting more than 12-hours before being seen, admitted, discharged, or transferred
  • This is the highest number of 12-hour waits since records began
  • It is almost a 70% increase on the previous month, February 2022
  • It means that around one in 28 patients were waiting 12-hours or more in a major Emergency Department

Responding to the latest Emergency Department performance figures for Scotland, Dr John Thomson, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said:

“Once again, the figures show the worst performance since records began, meaning record numbers of patients facing extremely long waits. March 2022 also saw the highest number of attendances since September 2021.

“There are immense pressures on our health system. Patient safety is compromised, staff are burnt out, ambulance services are severely struggling, and Emergency Departments are dangerously over-crowded.

“During this difficult time, we commend all staff in our Emergency Departments for their resilience and hard work. These are unprecedented and extremely challenging circumstances, a result of a broken health system in dire crisis. We know morale is very low right now, and we know the challenges in providing effective care, but frontline staff across all grades continue to do their very best to keep patients safe.

“Opening 1,000 beds in the health system in Scotland and addressing the staffing crisis in social care is urgently needed to begin to tackle the current situation and to move patients appropriately and timeously through the system. This is an unsustainable situation, month-on-month performance deteriorates, and patients are coming to harm as staff face severe moral injury.”

Worst on record: More than 2,000 children have been waiting over a year for mental health treatment

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), an alliance of leading providers of children’s services, has called on Scotland’s political parties to make this new session of the Scottish Parliament a “Parliament for Mental Health”.

The call comes as new figures from Public Health Scotland indicate that at the end of March 2021, 2,012 children and young people had been waiting over a year for treatment from specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) provided by the NHS.

These figures are the worst on record and represent a near tripling from March 2020 (696).They also represent more than 18 per cent of those waiting for specialist treatment.

With already under-resourced and overstretched services facing overwhelming pressure due to increased demand, the SCSC has raised concerns over a potential “lost generation” of vulnerable children and young people whose mental health is being impacted by Covid-19. 

Even prior to the pandemic cases of poor mental health were at unprecedented levels and there are a growing number of vulnerable children who cannot access adequate support.

While 4,089 children and young people were treated over the period January to March 2021 by CAMHS, only 72.5 per cent were seen within the Scottish Government’s waiting time target for the NHS of 18 weeks from referral to treatment (met for at least 90 per cent of patients). Only two out of 14 health boards met this target.

In addition to increased investment in mental health services, the SCSC has called for a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention, reducing the need for referral to costly specialist CAMHS. It has also called for greater partnership working between the public, private and third sectors as well as greater awareness of the services on offer, especially those at a community level.

A spokesperson for the SCSC commented: “These frightening statistics highlight the challenges ahead and a commitment by MSPs to focus on mental health, increasing investment in support services and intervention strategies, must be a priority for this parliament.

“We have for some time raised concerns over a potential lost generation of vulnerable children and young people, whose mental health is being impacted even further by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is a crisis we can overcome, but it will require a similar energy and commitment to that demonstrated for Covid-19 if we are to achieve this and prevent many young people giving up on their futures.”