December 2025 among worst months ever at A&E

Responding to new figures showing that in the month of December 2025 only 67% of people attending A&E seen within the 4 hour target, while 15,871 (12.4%) people waited over 8 hours and 7,451 (5.8%) waited over 12 hours, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

"Under the SNP our A&E departments have been stuck operating at crisis levels for years now and those long waits have become routine. December 2025 is among the worst months ever recorded for waiting times at A&E, yet it is not even the worst month of 2025.

"Before the SNP came to power having to wait over 12 hours at A&E was a freak occurrence, it now happens more than 200 times a day.

"A&E departments are backed up, because there are so many people who are stuck in hospital and unable to leave because the care package they need is not available. Earlier this month I raised the case of Margaret MacGill with the First Minister. She should have been home within 14 weeks, but she’s been in hospital for 14 months.

"You cannot fix the NHS and bring down A&E waits without fixing social care.

"Scotland's A&E patients deserve better - and with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, you can vote for change with fairness at its heart."