A&E Waiting Times 'Are Improving'

Waiting times at Accident and Emergency units in Fife are above the Scottish average.

94.6% of patients across the country are being seen, treated and either admitted or discharged within 4 hours, in the Kingdom it is 96.4, up by 0.6% on the week before. 6 patients waited for over 8 hours in A and E in Fife last week, 47 patients spent longer than 4 hours waiting. Overall, 13 out of 14 health boards saw 9 out of 10 patients within in the 4 hour target.

Public Health Minister Maureen Watt said: "As we have seen in recent weeks, A&E performance is stabilising, with weekly figures getting closer to meeting our world leading targets.

"Today’s figures show that 13 out of 14 health boards treated nine out of 10 patients within four hours during the week ending July 5. Long waits have also continued to remain low. Of course, there is still much work to do and it’s important that with support from the Scottish Government, health boards retain momentum throughout the summer months to ensure they are in the best position possible heading into next winter.

"We have put record funding and staffing in place and are committed to lowering waiting times in A&E through a whole system approach. This includes measures to reduce delays in people being discharged from hospital, including through the integration of health and social care. That means we have the strong foundations in place to ensure our NHS continues to deliver, quick, high quality care for the people of Scotland."