By Bill Heaney
Scottish Labour has warned the NHS is facing a “double-whammy of SNP incompetence” after A&E waiting times surged and the number of patients stuck in hospital beds due to delayed discharge rose to a record high.
And the Scottish Liberals jumped in too with scathing comments about the SNP performance in government.
At the census point in June 2024, there were 1,991 people whose discharge was delayed – a rise of 14.6 percent compared to the same month in 2023 and the highest number since the current form of record-keeping was adopted in 2016.
The average number of beds occupied per day across June was also at a record high of 1,983.
It comes as new statistics showed that 14,126 Scots spent more than eight hours in A&E in June – a 45.7 percent increase on the same month last year.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned that for every 72 patients that waited 8-12 hours from their time of arrival in Emergency Departments, there would be an ‘extra’ or excess death. As such, in the first half of this year, as many as 1,200 excess deaths could have been recorded in Scotland’s Emergency Departments.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s Health spokesperson, right, said: “Whether it’s the queues at the front door of A&E or the blocked exit of delayed discharge, the diagnosis is clear – the NHS is suffering from an SNP double-whammy.
“Thousands of patients are languishing in hospital corridors in those critical hours when they could be treated, and meanwhile those who want nothing more than to return home are stuck in hospital beds.
“A succession of SNP Health Secretaries promised to tackle delayed discharge as long ago as 2015, but instead they have let the delays snowball.
“And the dramatic surge in A&E waiting times compared to last summer shows that after 17 years this SNP government can’t even get the basics right.
“A Scottish Labour government would ensure that reducing A&E times is a priority while creating a proper National Care Service, worthy of the name.”
At the June 2024 census, there were 1,991 people whose discharge was delayed. This is the highest number of people delayed since the guidelines were amended in July 2016. The data for the previous three months are May 2024 (1,955), April 2024 (1,912) and March 2024 (1,910).
In June 2024 the average number of beds occupied per day due to people delayed in hospital was 1,983. This is the highest average number of bed days occupied since the guidelines were amended in July 2016. The data for the previous three months are May 2024 (1,942), April 2024 (1,914) and March 2024 (1,892).
By contrast, in June 2023, 1,738 people were delayed and the average number of beds occupied per day due to delayed discharges was 1,730.
A&E monthly figures
In the month ending June 2024, 14,126 (10.7%) patients spent more than 8 hours in A&E and 5,936 spent more than 12 hours.
By comparison, in the month ending June 2023, 9,694 people waited more than eight hours to be seen in A&E and 3,035 waited more than 12 hours.
The RCEM has warned that for every 72 patients that waited 8-12 hours from their time of arrival in Emergency Departments, there would be an ‘extra’ or excess death.
Meanwhile, LibDem leader Alex Cole Hamilton, left, said: “Under SNP management, Scotland’s care services are in crisis and these figures show more people than ever are stuck in hospital unnecessarily.
“It’s worsening their health, contributing to record-breaking waits in A&E and leading to dangerous ambulance delays.
“The SNP’s ill-fated centralisation of social care will do nothing to ease pressures- it must be scrapped.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats would devote the money for this billion-pound bureaucracy to frontline services and staff instead. We want to see a £500m rescue package that will enable people to be released from hospital and relieve the pressure on the NHS.
“We would create a new minimum wage for care workers, £2 higher than the national minimum wage, to tackle the chronic staff shortages in care and make social care a profession of choice again.”
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And how many will need hospitalisation this winter due to cold homes.
Labour cutting the winter heating allowance for something like 10,000,000 pensioners is utterly cruel, heartless and potential life extiguishing.
But as Anas Sarwar said last week, why should millionaires get heating allowance.
Incredible isn’t it really. And the Labour government have only started with the cuts.