Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has been blasted over his “underwhelming and unhelpful response” to Scotland’s A&E crisis.
Labour’s Paul O’Kane asked the Scottish Government’s health supremo - who visited Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital three weeks ago in a bid to address problems at the struggling site - if he listened to staff leaders during the visit.
O’Kane, the party’s Shadow Health spokesman said that during the visit, Mr Yousaf had heard “accounts from patients and doctors who are rubbishing the government’s rhetoric that A&E is functioning well”.
It comes after Scotland’s casualty departments returned dismal figures showing rocketing A&E waits this week.
West Scotland list MSP Paul said: “Week after week of dire statistics show that, despite the dedicated efforts of staff, there is something fundamentally wrong with our A&E departments and that it’s a crisis that must be dealt with, but you wouldn’t know that listening to Humza Yousaf.
“The Health Secretary has visited Royal Alexandra Hospital, he’s heard accounts from patients and doctors who are rubbishing his government’s rhetoric that A&E is functioning well, and yet he still stands there and thinks the words ‘covid’ and ‘pandemic’ can shield him and the SNP government from criticism.”
He added: “His response was predictably underwhelming and unhelpful, and it’s an insult to everyone else who can see that this A&E crisis is getting worse and that the longer it continues the more it will put lives at risk.
“Two years of a pandemic has of course produced challenges for the NHS but two years is also a period in which the SNP should have spent time strengthening the NHS after covid exposed it as being vulnerable and underfunded.
“The Health Secretary should stop the excuses and act to fix this crisis”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital returned horrendous figures for emergency department performance last week, while Paisley’s RAH improved slightly against a national picture of poor performance.
The Corsebar Road facility returned its worst performance on record two weeks ago as “heroic” staff battle on.
Just 49.8 per cent of the 1,112 patients who attended the hospital’s A&E department in the week up to March 13 were seen within four hours.
Scottish Government guidelines call for 95 per cent of A&E patients to be admitted, transferred or discharged within a four-hour timeframe.
But the target has rarely been met since the pandemic, with some sites, including the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde run RAH and Govan’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, repeatedly notching up some of the worst performances in Scotland.
NHS data reveals 61.7 per cent of the 1,095 patients who attended for emergency treatment at the RAH in the week up to March 20 were seen with the
Doctors leaders told earlier this week how the NHS is failing staff and patients.
Dr John Thomson, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Scotland, warned the Scottish Government is presiding over a growing crisis, saying: “Each week, the urgent and emergency care crisis worsens.
“Scotland’s emergency care system is failing patients who are coming to harm,
and failing staff who are overworked, exhausted, and burned out, but are left to
cover the widespread shortcomings of the health system out”.
Health Secretary Mr Yousaf defended the Scottish Government’s record, saying: “the reason that we’re seeing this level of pressure is because of the pressures of the pandemic”, adding: “These last two years have frankly been the most difficult of the NHS’s almost 73 year existence.”
