More than a quarter of a million patients waited too long for treatment in A&E in the past two years, new figures show.
The Scottish Government’s four-hour waiting-time target is 95% but this has not been met since July 30, 2017.
Analysis of Scottish Government figures by the Scottish Liberal Democrats shows 281,241 patients waited more than four hours for treatment, 28,945 patients waited more than eight hours, and 5,833 patients waited more than 12 hours.
Scottish Lib Dem health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “It is infuriating for patients and health professionals that it is now two years since A&E performance targets were met.”
The MSP blamed Health Secretary Jeane Freeman. The average performance against the four-hour target in the year before Ms Freeman’s appointment was 90.4%. In the year since her appointment the average performance has been 89.4%.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “The average weekly performance against the A&E target has actually worsened since her appointment.”
Ms Freeman said: “We are continuing to see higher attendances every week but, despite this, Scotland’s core A&E departments continue to be the best performing in the UK, and have been for more than four years.
“This year the Scottish Government is investing record levels of over £14 billion in health and care services and we will continue to drive improvements through our £850 million Waiting Times Improvement plan.”
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