Thousands of Scots are having to wait more than a day in NHS accident and emergency departments before they are seen by a professional, figures show.
Meanwhile, an estimated 2,000 Scots could have died last year because of “deadly” A&E waits of up to five days.
Media reports say that the crisis is continuing this year, with the number of people waiting more than half a day to be seen in A&E in January rising to its highest level on record.
Scottish Labour is now urging the health secretary to take action to stop unnecessary deaths due to the long A&E wait times.
Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and health spokeswoman, says Health Secretary Neil Gray needs to take immediate action to avoid any further deaths.
She said:
“Scotland’s A&E departments are in the grip of a deadly crisis, with lives being put on the line day in and day out.”
“That some people have waited days – even a working week – to be seen is dangerous and disgraceful.”
Figures from Public Health Scotland show that one patient at University Hospital Crosshouse in Kilmarnock waited over 122 hours in A&E in 2023, which is over five days.
Another patient waited over 88 hours at Borders General Hospital, and another at University Hospital Wishaw waited over 72 hours.
Meanwhile, this year, one patient was left waiting at Caithness General Hospital’s emergency department for over four days.
Newly released statistics show just 65.5 per cent of people attending emergency departments were seen within the target waiting time of four hours. Meanwhile, in January, 17,893 people waited in A&E for more than eight hours and those waiting more than half a day rose to 8,857, which is the highest on record.
The number of operations carried out was also over 430,000 fewer than before March 2020, and in January 2024 one in 10 planned operations were cancelled either on the day of the operation or the day before.
This comes after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar criticised First Minister Humza Yousaf for breaking the law that guarantees all Scottish patients get treated within 12 weeks.
He says the SNP has broken this law over 680,000 times, including 320,000 times before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
This treatment time guarantee has also been broken 306,735 times since Mr. Yousaf published his NHS recovery plan.
At first minister’s questions last week, Mr. Sarwar said:
“Every one of these breaches is someone waiting anxiously for a medical procedure, often in pain.
“Many have put their lives on hold, stopped work or retired because of their condition.
“Too many of them are forced to go private in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, just to stop the pain.
“Across nearly every measure this government has failed.”
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates there will be an excess death for every one in 72 patients who spend between eight and 12 hours in an emergency department.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said:
“We know that long delays remain too high and we continue to work with boards to reduce these instances, which are not unique to Scotland.
“A&E performance is impacted by pressures from across the wider health and social care system, which is why our unscheduled care collaborative programme is taking a whole system approach as we work with health boards to deliver sustained improvement.
“Hospital bed occupancy continues to be a major factor impacting on performance.
“To address this, the delayed discharge and hospital occupancy action plan is being implemented at pace, delivering actions we know work to ensure patients receive the right care in the right setting.”
Medical negligence claims
Oakwood Scotland Solicitors’ specialist Medical Negligence department has an in-house team of Solicitors and legal professionals dedicated solely to helping people who have suffered due to medical negligence such as delays to treatment.
With over 24 years of combined experience, we are dedicated to assisting clients who have suffered physically, mentally and financially as a result of negligent medical treatment.
The specialist team pursues an array of medical negligence claims including mistakes during surgery and incorrect treatment.
If you have been a victim of medical negligence, contact the team at Oakwood Scotland Solicitors for advice, and to discuss your eligibility for a claim today.
Types of Medical Negligence
The hospital should be a place where harm is treated however unfortunately, the hospital is often the place where harm occurs.
Negligent treatment at a hospital can include but is not limited to an individual experiencing:
- A delay and/or failure in diagnosis and/or treatment
- A misdiagnosis
- Incorrect treatment
- Hospital-acquired infections including MRSA
- Pressure sores
- Mistakes during surgery
- Consent
- A delay and/or failure in receiving follow-up care
Medical Negligence – making a claim
Medical Negligence is when you have been injured, or a loved one has died due to negligence treatment by a healthcare professional. This could be caused by a GP, healthcare assistant or a nurse.
How to make a claim
To make a medical negligence claim, you need to prove the healthcare professional owed you a duty of care, they breached the duty of care, and as a result, the failure to take care has caused you harm.
The victim of the negligence can bring about a claim in their own right. However, it is often sadly the case that the victim is either unable to bring about a claim or has sadly passed away.
In such circumstances, a claim can be brought about on their behalf either by an appropriate person or friend if the victim is still with us, or by the executor of the estate of a surviving dependent if the victim has passed.
How long do I have to make a claim?
Claims of this nature are subject to a three-year limitation period. This means claims must be commenced within the Courts within three years of either the date the negligent act occurred or the date you became aware that negligence had occurred.
In cases involving deceased victims, this limitation period commences from the date of death and in cases involving minors, the limitation period starts when they reach their 18th birthday.
The law surrounding limitation periods is complex – our specialist team will be able to advise further.
Further reading
For information about clinical negligence, check out our resource.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
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