Nearly half of all patients attending Forth Valley Royal Hospital's emergency department last month had to wait longer than the target four hours to be treated, members of the NHS health board have heard.
NHS Forth Valley chief executive Cathie Cowan told members of the health board that the problems in the ED are "a barometer" of the huge pressures that the whole system is under.
The day she addressed the board (Tuesday) the health service had 122 delayed discharges, including 47 in FVRH itself. However, in addition to those 47 delayed discharges, 61 were also waiting to be transferred into a community health facility or social care.
