Paramedics are having to treat patients in ambulances waiting outside A&E departments as pressure on the NHS in Scotland rises.

John Thomson, Scotland Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, described the “lengthy” queues at hospitals as “inhumane”.

Long waits in emergency departments were rising even before the emergence of a new strain of covid-19 and higher case numbers linked to household mixing over the festive period.

Statistics for November published yesterday show the number of patients facing long waits increased to the highest levels since the start of the pandemic even as overall attendances fell.

Dr Thomson, an emergency medicine consultant at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, said delays in winter were an annual feature but posed an even greater risk because of covid-19.

“The pressures of winter 2020/21 are likely to be the toughest we have ever experienced,” he said.

There were just over 100,000 attendances at A&E services across Scotland during November, a fall of more than 6,000 on the previous month.

Nine in ten patients were either seen, transferred or discharged within the national four-hour target.

But nearly 1,500 patients waited more than eight hours, as well as 305 who experienced delays of 12 hours or more.

NHS Tayside was the only mainland health board to meet the 95% standard, while NHS Ayrshire & Arran saw 82% of patients in the target time frame. Across Scotland the average was just under 90%, the third worst level since the start of the pandemic.

Under new plans members of the public are being asked to call 111 before attending A&E, if their condition is not life-threatening, to reduce pressure on emergency services.

Yesterday First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that the new covid mutation that is largely responsible for the latest lockdown has spread “widely” from the south of England.

Public Health Scotland data shows one in two tests in Scotland analysed now match the mutant variant.

Hospitals faced a 600-bed shortfall even before the pandemic, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has estimated, with another 400 beds lost since the outbreak of covid-19.

Dr John Thomson said: “Currently, with in-patient services not resourced to match demand, admitting patients into a hospital bed in a timely manner has become frequently unachievable.

“As a result, we are experiencing lengthy ambulance queues outside our EDs as there is not enough capacity to offload the patients.

“There are patients having to be cared for in ambulances outside the department. Not only is this inhumane but it also means is that ambulances cannot be released back into the community.”

 

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