New figures released today (23 January) from ISD Scotland have shown that the Scottish Government is still failing patients in Dumfries and Galloway, despite a fall in the number of people needing to attend Accident and Emergency (A&E) Departments in the region.

The new report shows that 804 people attended A&E in the region during the week ending 14th Jan. This is a fall of around 156 people compared to 26th Nov. It is also the lowest number of patients over the last 12 weeks.

Despite the fall in the number of people attending A&E, the waiting times targets are still significantly below par with only 83.7% of patients being seen within 4 hours. The Scottish Government target is 95%.

This means around 1 in 5 patients are left waiting over 4 hours at A&E before being seen.

The report also showed that 37 people waited more than 8 hours to be seen, with 4 patients left for over 12 hours.

South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth has attacked the Government for failing Dumfries and Galloway’s patients claiming ‘the Health Minister has run out of excuses’.

Colin Smyth MSP:

“The Health Minister has claimed that black ice, Australian flu and unprecedented demand is the reason for the current unacceptable accident and emergency waiting time. But the latest figures show that the number of people actually attending A&E is falling but targets are still not being met. The results show that both Galloway Hospital and DGRI are struggling to keep waiting times below 4 hours with some patients even having to wait more than 12 hours.

This report is the clearest indicator yet that staff are working around the clock to provide care, but can only do so much, so long as the SNP Government continues to underfund staff, services and resources.

Our NHS staff within Dumfries and Galloway are doing an outstanding job in difficult circumstances but we need a Scottish Government and a Health Minister who are willing to stand up for them and provide the support they need.”

For the full report please see:

http://www.isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Emergency-Care/Publications/index.asp?#2088

NHS Performs – Weekly Update of Emergency Department Activity and Waiting Time Statis