The latest NHS performance figures, published yesterday, show that during the week ending December 18, A and E departments in every health board in Scotland continued to miss the Scottish Government’s legally binding target of 95 per cent of patients being admitted to the hospital, transferred or discharged within four hours of arriving at A and E.
All boards in South Scotland saw a decline in performance, with the figure for NHS Dumfries and Galloway being 73.9 per cent, down from 79 per cent in a week.
Hundreds of patients across the region had to wait more than 12 hours to be seen in A and E in the week ending December 18.
South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said: “Despite the incredible work of staff, the lack of resources means more and more patients are having to wait longer in our Accident and Emergency departments and we haven’t even hit the peak winter period yet.
“The four hour target is there for a reason, yet more and more people are having to wait in A and E for more than half a day and that’s just unacceptable.
“We need an urgent change of plan from Scottish Government before more lives are put at risk.”
