Concern over north-east accident and emergency waiting times

MP David Duguid has said the latest accident and emergency waiting times in the north-east should be a “new source of shame” for Health Secretary Humza Yousaf.

The Banff and Buchan representative's call comes after the latest weekly statistics for Scotland’s A&E departments showed waiting times have hit another record low.

In the north-east, only 66 per cent were seen at A&E within the four-hour target time. Also 91.2 per cent waited more than eight hours and 98.2 per cent waited over half a day to be seen at NHS Grampian locations.

Across Scotland, only 64.9 per cent of patients were seen within four hours after arriving at A&E.

The Scottish Government's own target is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours, but they have not met this since July 2020.

Mr Duguid says Humza Yousaf’s NHS Recovery Plan, produced almost a year ago, simply is not cutting it and heroic frontline staff at NHS Grampian are being let down by his continued failures.

He said: “Just when you thought A&E waiting times could not get any worse on Humza Yousaf’s watch, they hit another appalling record low. They should be a new source of shame for him.

“The flimsy NHS Recovery Plan produced by the SNP Health Secretary simply isn’t cutting it for patients in the north-east and is leading to longer and longer waits at A&E for them.

“The crisis is ever deepening in A&E departments in NHS Grampian due to Humza Yousaf’s continued failures to support our heroic frontline staff.

“He must accept the reality that his recovery plan has come nowhere near to fixing the problems in our north-east A&E departments."

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