Scotland's Health Secretary has said waiting times at A&E departments were "not acceptable" after they hit a new record low. Emergency departments have been under pressure for months, with just 63.5 per cent of patients seen and subsequently admitted or discharged within four hours in the week up to September 11.
A Scottish Government target aims to ensure 95 per cent of attendants are seen within this time, a standard not hit since the early days of the pandemic when the number of people going to A&E dropped drastically. The latest figure shows a drop from 67.7 per cent the previous week and new low compared to the 64.8 per cent seen in one week in early July.
Of the 27,097 attendances during that week, a record number of people waited more than four hours, at 9,895. Meanwhile, the number of people waiting more than eight hours was 3,367 - a new high - while 1,257 people waited longer than 12 hours.
