Will the First Minister accept that people are now paying for those waits with their lives?
Hospitals which serve West Dunbartonshire and Argyll – Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Vale of Leven Hospital, Gartnave4l Royal Hospital,and the Royal Alexandra Infirmary in Paisley.
by BILL HEANEY
How the world has changed – and not for the better – since 2008, which is not long after the Scottish National Party came to power, Scottish LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton told the Scottish Parliament yesterday.
He told MSPs and asked First Minister John Swinney: “Sixty two people waited more than 12 hours in accident and emergency across Scotland [at that time]. How many people waited more than 12 hours this summer?”
“Many of those people were waiting on trolleys in hospital corridors. This year is already worse than the whole of last year, and there are still two months left. The people who are watching this will want to know: if it was that bad this summer, what on earth will the winter look like?”
“We have also instituted reforms in our A and E departments to create frailty units to ensure that frail members of the public are supported with priority and do not have to experience lengthy waits in A and E. In addition, the Scottish Ambulance Service has increasingly been dealing with incidents in which they are called out but the individual does not require to be transported to hospital, and it is providing solutions in the community that meet the needs of the public.
“I acknowledge that people are waiting too long in A and E, and the Government is focused on ensuring that we have a range of interventions in place to make sure that that is minimised.”
Alex Cole-Hamilton, pictured left, pressed him: “The range of interventions that the First Minister has described are not working. He does not need to take my word for it—the numbers speak for themselves. Failure to tackle this crisis has consequences, and they are deadly. So far this year, there have been 600 deaths associated with long waits in A and E—600 avoidable deaths.
“I began by asking the First Minister what A and E looked like when his party came to power. When his party came to power, virtually nobody died like this, so will the First Minister accept that people are now paying for those waits with their lives?”
“What I am saying to the Parliament is that the Government has recognised that there is increased demand on A and E services. We are trying to deliver the public service reform agenda of maximising interventions in the community and ensuring that that range of services—pharmacy first, GP walk-in clinics, GP services, the frailty units and the work of the Scottish Ambulance Service—are able to support individuals and minimise any delays to the discharge of members of the public. Ninety-seven per cent of individuals are discharged from hospital without delay, and the Government is trying to improve that performance to minimise the delays in the patient care that people experience.”
“The First Minister needs to listen to the professionals who are sounding the alarm. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine says that our A and E departments are …Â ‘in a worse state than this time last year’ … and are at … ‘risk of collapse’.
“Does the First Minister agree that those excess deaths are not just unacceptable but entirely avoidable?”
“What the Government will do—I can assure Mr Cole-Hamilton of this, and the health secretary has explained all of it to Parliament—is take steps to ensure that our national health service is equipped for the winter pressures that we experience, and to ensure that we minimise the delays that people experience and that members of the public receive the quality of care to which they are entitled.
“We will do that across a range of areas of activity and in a fashion that meets the expectations and needs of patients and families around the country.”