Twelve-hour A&E waits soar by over 7000% since 2016
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said that staff and patients deserve better, as he revealed that the number of people waiting longer than 12 hours in A&E has soared by more than 7000% compared to a decade ago.
Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis of Public Health Scotland figures reveals that in 2025:
- Waits over four hours, eight hours and twelve hours were the second worst on record.
- Since 2016, waits over twelve hours have increased by 7354%, rising from 998 to 74,393.
- Since 2016, waits over eight hours have increased by 2335%, rising from 7,047 patients to 171,615.
- 491,607 patients waited over four hours- more than five times the number of people waiting in 2016.
- 74,393 people waited over 12 hours, compared to just 998 in 2016.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:
“These figures demonstrate that the SNP cannot be trusted to cut waiting times and fix our NHS. On their watch, things have gone from bad to broken.
“When they came to power, waiting 12 hours in A&E was a rare occurrence - it happened to about 3 people a day. Now 200 patients a day are having to go through this and for too many it can prove fatal.
“A major cause of the long waits in A&E, of ambulances stacking up outside and cancelled surgeries is the care bottleneck. Departments are backed up because there are so many people like Margaret MacGill, whose case I raised with the First Minister last week, who are stuck in hospital unable to leave because the care package that they need is not available.
“It all goes to show that you cannot bring down these waits without making sure people have the care packages or care home places they need once they leave hospital.
“Only the Scottish Liberal Democrats have a realistic plan to get our NHS back on track, fix care and support staff and patients. In May, you can vote for that plan by backing Scottish Liberal Democrats on your second, peach-coloured ballot paper.”
