"Extremely worrying" new A&E figures have plummeted to among the worst ever as politicians warn of an "expected" full blown "summer crisis".
They have warned that the Scottish Government are not getting to grips with the struggles facing the NHS as Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital and raised fears that Health Supremo Humza Yousaf "doesn't know what he's doing".
Waiting times at the Corsebar Road hospital have once again rocketed to among the worst ever as performance plummets.
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NHS figures revealed earlier today show that just 53 per cent of the 1,108 patients who attended for emergency treatment at the RAH were seen in line with the Scottish Government's own four-hour standard.
Data shows that some 521 patients attending A&E in Paisley in the week to July 3 were left waiting more than four hours - 240 faced an eight hour wait while 116 were delayed for 12 hours or more.
The figure is a massive drop from last week's already performance where 56.5 per cent of 1,159 patients were seen in line with the four hour target.
Scottish Government targets demand that 95 per cent of patients are admitted, treated, transferred or discharged within the four hour timeframe.
But the standard has rarely been met in Scotland since the pandemic began and figures has now dropped to sit amongst the worst performances since records began more than five years ago.
Labour's Neil Bibby has hit out over the current NHS scandal, warning the Scottish Government that they must take note.
The West Scotland politician said: "Humza Yousaf and the Scottish Government need to wake up. They clearly do not even begin to comprehend how serious the problems facing our NHS are.
"These RAH A&E wait times are amongst the worst ever with patients left waiting hours on end for the treatment and care they need."
Paisley-based Neil added: "We are experiencing a full-blown summer crisis. Covid cases are rising again but that’s not an excuse when staff have been raising the alarm about a lack of support for a year. Had action been taken early on, we could have avoided this.
"The government’s catch up plan clearly isn’t working. What’s needed now is a fresh approach to support the RAH staff, who are doing their best in extremely difficult circumstances, and to give patients the health service that they need and deserve.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde bosses have urged patients to steer clear of their acute sites repeatedly in recent weeks, blaming rising covid cases sparked by the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants.
They warned last week that hospitals are operating at more than 90 per cent capacity and patients attending for unscheduled care face "long waits".
But the crisis has been looming for months.
Unison leaders Barbara Steel and Margaret Duffy warned last October of "chronic" staff shortages hitting services at the RAH and issued fresh warning that the situation there was "dire".
They said burnt-out staff were "on their knees" and hit out after a lone nurse was left to look after a 24-patient specialist ward on a Saturday nightshift, with only a single health care assistant for back-up.
Health supremo Humza Yousaf visited the hospital in March in a bid to iron out problems with managers and staff leaders.
But since then the situation has rarely improved.
Labour's Health spokesman, MSP Paul O'Kane has also hit out at the latest figures.
He said: "These figures, amongst the worst ever are extremely worrying.”
“Week after week I have been raising these issues with Humza Yousaf and all he has demonstrated is that despite his visit to the RAH, despite speaking to patients and staff who have told him what the our NHS needs which is more nurses and more beds, he really has no idea what he's doing.
"His announcement of £50 million into A&E services was welcomed but where are the benefits of it? It can't come quick enough."
Barrhead-based West Scotland MSP Paul added: "It's sadly become expected to see awful A&E statistics and week after week we see no sign that any of it has registered with the Health secretary.
"He owes our dedicated NHS staff and patients action now."
Across Scotland, 64.9 per cent of patients were dealt with in accordance with the four hour standard.
The Scottish Government has continually defended its' record on the NHS, saying Scottish hospitals are "outperforming" those in other parts of the UK.
A spokesperson said: "We want people to get the right care in the right setting and for many A&E will not be the most suitable place for their healthcare need. People should consider whether their condition is an emergency, such as a stroke, heart attack or major trauma, before going to A&E."
"Our new Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative programme, which is supported by £50 million of funding, looks to support the implementation of a range of measures to reduce A&E waiting times and improve patient experience, this includes alternatives to hospital-based treatment.
"Scotland continues to have the best performing A&Es in the UK, outperforming those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for over six years."
The Health Secretary took to Twitter today to praise the Scottish Government's record on the NHS further, saying: "As part of our Mental Health Strategy we committed to recruiting 800 additional mental health workers in key settings. Today's published figures show we significantly exceeded that target by recruiting over 958 mental health staff."
It comes as figures show 958 mental health workers have been recruited for deployment to hospitals, GP practices, police station custody suites and prisons, exceeding the target of 800 set in their Mental Health Strategy 2017-27.
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said further delays have been compounded by covid, telling the Express: "With an increase in community transmission, COVID-19 is still very much with us. Our hospitals are near capacity, with large numbers of patients admitted to hospital – either as direct result of the virus, or admitted for another illness but having tested positive with no symptoms.
"This is putting significant pressure on capacity and available bed numbers and is having a significant impact on our A&E Departments and assessment units. COVID-19 is has also created staffing challenges, with some colleagues absent as a result of the virus.
"The rise in COVID-19 patient numbers and staffing challenges is further compounded by the difficulties we face due to patients with a delayed discharge, which we are working hard to resolve.
"A significant recruitment campaign is also ongoing, across our sites, and a large number of new nurses are set to join NHSGGC in coming months. We also continue to grow our Flow Navigation Centre, which acts as a virtual A&E and recently surpassed the 25,000 patient milestone.
"We are sorry if anyone experiences in a delay in being treated and we are reminding the public not to come to A&E unless suffering from a very urgent or life-threatening condition. Everyone else who thinks they need urgent medical attention should speak to their GP first, or, call NHS24 on 111."
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