By Bill Heaney
The NHS is ‘on life support’ warns Scottish Labour, as figures reveal another dismal week for A&E in which the RAH recorded its worst ever statistics.
In the week ending 8th January 2023, for the second week in a row, a shocking 1 in 10 patients attending A&E waited more than 12 hours to be seen and admitted, transferred, or discharged. The figure was even worse at Paisley’s RAH with 15 percent of patients waiting more than 12 hours.
Figures revealed last week showed the hospital, where people from Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond attend in an emergency, recorded its worst figures against the four-hour standard.
However the picture has become even worse with newly-released statistics. Just 41 percent of the 1000 people who presented at the emergency department were seen within four hours.
Across Scotland, just 57.3 percent of attendances were seen within the target time.
Dumbarton constituency MSP Jackie Baillie, pictured left, said: “Our NHS is facing the greatest crisis in living memory, yet the SNP are simply not up to the challenge.
“Week after week our hardworking A&E staff are promised that things will get better- but the reality is far from the SNP spin. NHS staff at the Royal Alexandra Hospital are dealing with some of the worst waits across Scotland with no signs of improvement.
“Patient and staff well-being is in danger. Staff are exhausted and their working conditions are overwhelming. Lives are being lost.
“Our NHS is on life support. The SNP must sort the backlog in delayed discharge and end the crisis in A&E once and for all.”
During week ending 08 January 2023:
- There were 22,933 attendances at Emergency Departments in NHSScotland, 1000 of them were at the RAH in Paisley.
- 57.3 percent of ED attendances were seen and resulted in a subsequent admission, transfer or discharge within four hours. The figure at the RAH was just 41 percent.
- 4,387 patients spent more than eight hours in an Emergency Department. 326 of these patients were at the RAH.
- 2,245 patients spent more than 12 hours in an Emergency Department. The figure at the RAH was 148.