THE third-lowest number of A&E attendances was recorded last month as Scotland entered a new lockdown during the pandemic.
Public Health Scotland figures show there were only 93,829 attendances of A&E services across the country in the month ending December 31, 2020. The previous lows were recorded during the initial lockdown to combat Covid-19 last April and May, with 65,117 and 88,614 attendances respectively.
Before the latest figures, November had been the third-lowest month on record when just 100,369 patients attended A&E.
Of those at A&E in December 2020, 86.4% were seen and admitted, transferred or discharged within the Scottish Government’s four-hour target. There were 2289 patients (2.5% of the total) who spent more than eight hours in A&E while 634 (0.7%) waited more than 12 hours to be seen. Meanwhile in the weekly figures, there were 16,313 A&E attendances in the week ending January 24, 2021 – a rise from 15,787 in the previous week.
Of those attending last week, 85.6% were seen and admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours while 380 patients waited more than eight hours and 116 spent more than 12 hours in A&E.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here