Cole-Hamilton: Staff and patients are being taken for granted as A&E crisis rumbles on

Responding to new figures showing that last week only 64% of patients in Scotland's A&E departments were seen within the four-hour target time, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton criticised the SNP-Green government for taking staff and patients for granted.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has estimated that long waits have contributed to hundreds of avoidable deaths in 2022.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"This crisis in our A&E departments shows no signs of abating. Long waits seem to be the SNP's new normal given it has been two and a half years since the target was last met.

"The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned that more than 40 patients per week are dying unnecessarily. That's the harsh reality of life under this incompetent Scottish Government.

“Despite this ongoing crisis, Humza Yousaf has voted down Scottish Liberal Democrat calls for a staff burnout prevention strategy and an urgent inquiry into the avoidable deaths linked to the crisis in emergency care, and ignored our calls for a staff assembly that puts their expertise at the heart of our route out of this crisis.

“Patients and staff are being taken for granted by this uncaring government. If Humza Yousaf is not able to change tack and start offering the support staff and patients need, then he will have to go.”