Cole-Hamilton: A&E must be priority for Swinney

Responding to new figures showing only 67.4% of people attending A&E were seen within the 4 hour target in March, while 14,615 people waited over 8 hours and 5,816 waited over 12 hours, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"With a new First Minister taking office this week, this needs to be a turning point for the crisis in our A&E departments.

"Patients and staff alike deserve better than the SNP mismanagement they have had to put up with for years on end.

"We need to finally see meaningful action taken to reverse this situation, not just more hot air from the SNP government.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats would overhaul the NHS Recovery Plan, bring forward an urgent inquiry into the hundreds of avoidable deaths linked to the emergency care crisis and implement measures which will meaningfully tackle burnout among staff.”