McLeod praises NHS D&G staff as updated A&E waiting times show strong performance

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> SNP MSP for the South of Scotland Aileen McLeod praised staff for working to see patients as quickly as possible, despite this winter being the busiest on record for A&E departments, as new figures for Accident and Emergency waiting times show that nine out of ten people in Dumfries & Galloway were seen within four hours between October and December 2014.
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> In October, November and December 2014, national performance against the four hour target was 91.8%, 91.8% and 89.9% respectively. Across the quarter, on average, 90.0 per cent of patients seen at core Emergency Department sites were within the four hour target.
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> Attendances in 2014 were the highest on record. Nationally, over the quarter ending December 2014 attendances were also up on last year, with over 9,000 more people attending A&E departments. The number of admissions to hospital following an A&E attendance was also at their highest level on record – with 101,488 people admitted over the quarter.
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> In Dumfries & Galloway over the same period, the performance was markedly stronger in comparison to the national average. In October, November and December 2014, the regional performance against the four hour target was 95.9%, 97.5% and 97.2% respectively.
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> Aileen commented:
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> “All NHS Dumfries & Galloway staff must be congratulated on achieving such an outstanding result on A&E waiting times, despite tremendous pressures. With record numbers attending A&E and then getting admitted, it makes their performance all the more impressive.
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> “The Scottish Government announced this month an investment of £100 million specifically to help health boards and local authorities tackle delayed discharge. This is both good for the patient and frees up beds to help people move out of A&E and through the system.
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> “This comes on top of the substantial £50 million investment in an unscheduled care action plan, which has seen increased staffing – particularly amongst emergency department consultants – and on-going improvement in the system.
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> “Scotland’s NHS is our most precious public service and shows the dedication of the staff means that patients continue to receive top class care. The Scottish Government have shown their commitment to the NHS with the above measures, highlighting the continuing priority the SNP give to our health service. The only way to make sure Scotland’s NHS continues to thrive is to send a strong team of SNP MPs down to Westminster in May.”
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> Notes to Editors
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> In October, November and December 2014, there were 393,872 attendances at A&E, compared with 384,739 attendances in the same period for 2013. During 2014 as a whole, there were 1,645,200 attendances at A&E, the highest number of any year on record.
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> Admissions for the quarter in 2014 were at 101,488 which compares with 99,552 for the same period in 2013 and 98278 for the same period in 2012.
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> NHS England performance against the four-hour target in A&E in England at type 1 sites (a figure that is comparable with Scotland) was 88.9 per cent in the October to December quarter.
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> Table below shows comparison between NHS Scotland, England and Wales. To note, ‘core’ sites in Scotland relate to ‘type 1’ sites in England and ‘major’ sites in Wales.
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> Core/type 1/major sites:
> Scotland England Wales
> Oct-14 90.8 90.7 81.3
> Nov-14 90.6 90.2 80.3
> Dec-14 88.6 85.3 77.2
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> Overall:
> Scotland England Wales
> Oct-14 91.8 93.7 84.8
> Nov-14 91.8 93.4 83.8
> Dec-14 89.9 90.2 81.0
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> The Local Delivery Plan (LDP) for 2015/16 sets out that the A&E four hour standard follows clinical advice to sustain at least 95 per cent of A&E patients being treated within four hours, as a step towards achieving 98 per cent, which is among the toughest A&E standard anywhere in the world.
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> Information Services Division will now move these statistics to being published on a monthly basis – following a consultation with service users.
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> Accident & Emergency: 4 hour standard compliance by NHS board and month
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> 2014 /15 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14
> NHS AYRSHIRE & ARRAN 91.9% 91.3% 89.5%
> NHS BORDERS 96.7% 97.8% 91.2%
> NHS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY 95.9% 97.5% 97.2%
> NHS FIFE 91.6% 95.2% 90.9%
> NHS FORTH VALLEY 91.2% 92.4% 84.2%
> NHS GRAMPIAN 93.6% 95.0% 94.4%
> NHS GREATER GLASGOW & CLYDE 89.2% 88.4% 84.5%
> NHS HIGHLAND 96.8% 97.7% 96.9%
> NHS LANARKSHIRE 87.0% 83.0% 86.5%
> NHS LOTHIAN 92.7% 94.2% 92.4%
> NHS ORKNEY 99.5% 99.5% 98.8%
> NHS SHETLAND 94.6% 97.0% 98.1%
> NHS TAYSIDE 99.2% 99.0% 98.8%
> NHS WESTERN ISLES 97.3% 98.6% 97.0%
> NHS SCOTLAND 91.8% 91.8% 89.9%
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