Edinburgh A&E waiting times: Just 40.6 per cent seen within four hours at Royal Infirmary

Lothian Labour MSP Foysol Choudhury has called for urgent action by the Scottish Government to tackle “two years of decline” in the NHS.

He spoke out as the latest figures for Accident and Emergency waiting times showed just 40.6 per cent of A&E patients at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary were seen within four hours. The Scottish average was 64.2 per cent while the government target is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within that time.

Mr Choudhury said: “The figures for patients being seen at A&E within four hours in Edinburgh remain alarmingly low, even before the anticipated winter crisis hits. The Health Secretary has said that recovery from Covid will not happen overnight, but we are yet to see any evidence of recovery at all.

"The four-hour figures for NHS Lothian last averaged above 90 per cent in March 2021, while the figures for Edinburgh Royal last averaged above 90 per cent in October 2020. The trend has been downwards since then.”

The latest statistics, for the week up to October 9, show across Scotland the number of people having to wait eight hours or more at A&E has risen to record levels, rising to 3,553. In Lothian, the figure was 698. Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said the pressures were "driven" by delays in discharging patients from hospital.

Mr Choudhury said: “Hard-working NHS staff are doing their best for patients in very difficult circumstances, but they are being let down by long-running structural failures which remain unresolved by this SNP-Green government. The Scottish Government needs to take urgent action now to arrest two years of decline in our health service, or risk putting patient safety in jeopardy over winter.”