By Taylor Kirkwood

Waiting times in A&E in Scotland have massively increased over the past 10 years. Many people have spent several hours in the department before being seen to and treated. Figures from Public Health Scotland (PHS) showed that 76,346 patients waited over 12 hours in A&E in 2024 compared to 784 patients waiting over 12 hours in 2011.

Despite these long wait times the Scottish Government has set a target that 95% of people in A&E should be admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours. The wait time for people being admitted differs depending on the nature of their condition, how complex their condition is and how easy it is to diagnose their condition.

People are advised first before making the trip to A&E to phone 111 if they are unsure whether it is an emergency or not. When phoning 111 people will be given advice on whether to go to A&E or be given an appointment virtually.

The NHS and Scottish Government are trying to spread awareness across the country that if your injury or illness is minor and not life-threatening there is other treatment out there. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde identified in 2024 that the top five minor injuries presented in A&E could have been treated elsewhere. These injuries include sprained or strained ankles, lower back pain, open finger wounds, strained feet, and wrist injuries.

One of the main reasons A&E wait times are so long is due to a delay in discharging patients. In July 2024, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) found there was 61,165 days spent in hospital by people who were well enough to be discharged but were kept in due to lack of social care provisions. This is equal to 167 years.

This puts massive pressure on the NHS to treat people appropriately or get the help to diagnose their illness or condition. There has been a backlog in diagnostic tests over the past decade. The numbers were steadily increasing before Covid-19 then rapidly increased after. In September 2024, almost 139,000 people were waiting for key diagnostic tests.

This can lead to people going to A&E as they might have the chance of getting a test quicker. However, if their condition is not life-threatening or they are not in excruciating pain it will just become a wasted trip.

Both the Scottish Conservative and Labour parties have suggested that long wait times in A&E have led to at least 2,000 deaths in 2024. The RCEM says there will be one additional death for every 72 patients who wait between eight and 12 hours in A&E. Both the Scottish Conservative and Labour parties have suggested the Scottish National Party (SNP) have neglected the crisis within the NHS surrounding waiting times.

So far, the SNP has failed to impact the waiting room times in A&E and other health services. This has left the NHS massively struggling to tackle this ongoing crisis without any help from the Government. Many hospitals in populated and urban areas are unable to cope with the numbers of patients. In January 2024, The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital reported that 31.1% of patients in A&E were seen within the four-hour target set by the Scottish Government.

Over the past 10 years the NHS in Scotland have struggled to cope with the waiting times across the country. Many hospitals across the country have been desperate to receive help from the Government to improve their A&E services. The SNP Government continues to be pressured by several parties and the people in the country to act on the waiting times issue.

NHS waiting times in Scotland