Colin Smyth MSP
The Scottish Government has come under fire this week as NHS Ayrshire and Arran reported that over 50 patients were left waiting in A&E for over 12 hours before being seen.
According to the latest figures published by ISD Scotland today (16 January), 53 patients were left in the A&E department waiting over 12 hours before being seen.
34 people were left at University Hospital Ayr whilst 19 people were left at University Hospital Crosshouse, waiting over 12 hours.
Last week Nicola Sturgeon was forced to apologise for the excessive waiting times being faced by thousands of patients left waiting across Scotland.
The region also failed to meet its target of seeing 95% of A&E patients within 4 hours as only 82.5% of people were seen within 4 hours of arriving.
Discussing the report local MSP Colin Smyth said:
“This is truly shocking. Having over 50 people waiting in A&E, often in agonising pain for over 12 hours before even being seen is a huge black mark against this Scottish Government.
Despite the best efforts of staff, once again we are seeing patient care affected by the current crisis in our NHS, as the Scottish Government go on the charm offensive to convince the people of Dumfries and Galloway that everything is fine and there are no problems.
Staff are doing an incredible job in our hospitals but the truth is, with an ever-increasing workload and resources failing to keep up with demand, they can only do so much.
There is only so many excuses the SNP can make before they come to realise that the austerity they have imposed upon the budgets of this area are directly affecting services.
There are only so many times they can blame black ice and the flu before people come to realise they simply cannot be trusted to run the NHS.
NHS Performs – Weekly Update of Emergency Department Activity and Waiting Times Statistics
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