Scotland Emergency Department performance figures worst on record, as health system remains in dire crisis

3 May 2022

Responding to the latest Emergency Department performance figures for Scotland, Dr John Thomson, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said:

“Once again, the figures show the worst performance since records began, meaning record numbers of patients facing extremely long waits. March 2022 also saw the highest number of attendances since September 2021.

“There are immense pressures on our health system. Patient safety is compromised, staff are burnt out, ambulance services are severely struggling, and Emergency Departments are dangerously over-crowded.

“During this difficult time, we commend all staff in our Emergency Departments for their resilience and hard work. These are unprecedented and extremely challenging circumstances, a result of a broken health system in dire crisis. We know morale is very low right now, and we know the challenges in providing effective care, but frontline staff across all grades continue to do their very best to keep patients safe.

“Opening 1,000 beds in the health system in Scotland and addressing the staffing crisis in social care is urgently needed to begin to tackle the current situation and to move patients appropriately and timeously through the system. This is an unsustainable situation, month-on-month performance deteriorates, and patients are coming to harm as staff face severe moral injury.”

Notes to editor

The latest performance figures for March 2022 for Emergency Departments across Scotland show:

• There were 111,996 attendances at major Emergency Departments
• 68.4% of patients were seen within four-hours
  • This is the lowest four-hour performance since records began
  • This meant that over 35,000 patients were waiting more than four-hours to be seen, admitted, discharged, or transferred.
• 10,475 patients were waiting more than eight-hours before being seen, admitted, discharged, or transferred
  • This is the highest number of eight-hour waits since records began
  • It is a 65% increase on the previous month, February 2022
  • It means that around one in 10 patients were waiting eight-hours or more in a major Emergency Department
• 3,889 patients were waiting more than 12-hours before being seen, admitted, discharged, or transferred
  • This is the highest number of 12-hour waits since records began
  • It is almost a 70% increase on the previous month, February 2022
  • It means that around one in 28 patients were waiting 12-hours or more in a major Emergency Department