SNP ends 2023 with joint worst A&E wait times since January 2023

Responding to new figures showing only 60.8% of people attending A&E were seen within the 4 hour target in the week ending 31st December, with 3,178 people waiting over 8 hours, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"The SNP have left the NHS in a perilous position as we enter 2024. It's clear now that Humza Yousaf's NHS Recovery Plan has failed.

"NHS staff have been sounding the alarm for months but the SNP just hasn't been listening. Staff are working flat out and getting burnt out because they simply don't have the beds, safe staffing and resources they need.

"Scotland desperately needs a government that is laser focussed on the day job and will put the voices of NHS staff first.

"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 to tackle burnout among staff.”