Controversy goes on over Inverness hospital waiting times
Highland MSP Ed Mountain has criticised the ‘dangerous’ A&E waiting times at Raigmore Hospital, which he says are once again falling short of the required standard.
As revealed in figures recently released for November, nearly 30 per cent of Raigmore’s A&E patients were forced to wait for longer than four hours. The Scottish Government’s target is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within four hours of arriving at A&E.
“Worryingly, in November, Raigmore Hospital kept over 100 people waiting in A&E for more than 12 hours,” Mr Mountain pointed out.
“Indeed, 64 per cent of those waiting over 12 hours in the NHS Highland area were at Raigmore Hospital, despite Raigmore only accounting for 44 per cent of NHS Highland’s A&E admissions that month.
The Scottish Conservative MSP has highlighted the disparity in the hope that the Scottish Government will pay greater attention to Highlanders and their specific healthcare needs. He also commented that, due to the geography of the region, patients at Raigmore have frequently travelled for several hours before they even reach A&E, which makes waiting times of over 12 hours even more unacceptable.
Edward Mountain also noted his concern that waiting times were so high at the beginning of the winter, and warned that they could spiral out of control as the cold weather continues.
“The failure at Raigmore is reflected in the national average for November, which saw just 65.8 per cent of patients across Scotland seen within the target four hour waiting time,” Mr Mountain pointed out.
Public Health Scotland’s website, from which these figures are taken, states that ‘compliance has been below 80 per centsince summer 2021.
A spokesperson for NHS Highland told the Strathy: “We are disappointed to read these comments.
“Similar to other areas across Scotland and the UK we are experiencing high levels of demand across all of our services during what is a very trying time for health and social care.
“Our staff have worked incredibly hard to ensure safe, person centred and effective care. To have them criticised in this way is unhelpful.
“Our teams go above and beyond every day caring for their patients in very challenging circumstances.
“We are always looking at ways we can improve our patient experience and prioritise those with the greatest clinical need.”