By Lucy Ashton
Jackie Baillie has said SNP inaction is endangering lives, as statistics reveal less than half of those attending at A&E are being seen within four hours.
Across Scotland, the statistics published this morning are the second worst on record, with the highest number of patients waiting over eight and 12 hours to be recorded.
The figures, for the week ending 13th of March, show just 48.8 percent of attendances at the emergency unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital were seen and resulted in a subsequent admission, transfer or discharge within four hours. This represented 558 of the 1112 people who attended.
Humza Yousaf and Jackie Baillie, who says waiting times will have to be better.
The Scotland-wide average was 68.4 percent. This is the second worst weekly performance on record, with the worst being recorded in January this year.
Some 227 people waited more than eight hours and 83 faced a wait of more than 12 hours at the Paisley facility, where people from Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond attend.
Dumbarton constituency MSP Jackie Baillie said: “Week after week we are facing new lows in A&E performance – with patients being put in danger as a result.
“That less than half of those attending at the A&E at Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital were seen within the four-hour target time the SNP Government set is scandalous. A&E services are in permanent crisis and the responsibility for that lies solely with the SNP.
“Humza Yousaf watches on, telling us that our NHS is facing crisis week after week, but he has no viable plan on how to solve any of the challenges the NHS faces.
“These are not mere numbers – these are people’s mothers and fathers, children and grandparents many of whom are from the Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, Balloch and Helensburgh areas – all waiting anxiously for treatment.
“NHS staff continue to work heroically to keep services running but they have been cruelly failed by a disinterested SNP government. This has to end. It’s time for Humza Yousaf to drop the excuses and act to keep people safe.”