Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP Graham Simpson for Central Scotland says SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf cannot “remain oblivious” to the crisis in accident and emergency departments.
Mr. Simpson’s call comes after the latest weekly stats showed only 78.7% of patients across Scotland were seen within four hours of arriving at accident and emergency.
This was the third week in a row where more than a fifth of patients waited over four hours to be seen. The SNP say 95% of patients should be seen within four hours.
No mainland health board again met the 95% target, with only 70.4% seen within four hours in NHS Lanarkshire.
This was 4.2% better than last week, but still well short of the 95% target set by SNP Ministers.
Mr. Simpson is continuing to push for the SNP Government to back Scottish Conservative plans for an extra investment worth £600 million for the NHS, which would be specifically designed to tackle waiting times.
Mr. Simpson says patients and heroic frontline staff in NHS Lanarkshire deserve to see SNP Ministers take every measure possible to get waiting times under control.
Commenting, Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP Graham Simpson said: “Humza Yousaf cannot continue to remain oblivious to the crisis affecting our accident and emergency departments.
“Week after week, patients are waiting hours on end after arriving to be treated at accident and emergency in NHS Lanarkshire.
“SNP Ministers are failing to ensure critical waiting time targets are being met, which is completely unacceptable.
“As we look to remobilise NHS services in NHS Lanarkshire, it is time the SNP backed Scottish Conservative plans for an extra investment of £600 million in our health service, which would be used to specifically tackle waiting times.
“We cannot continue to let down patients and our heroic frontline staff by allowing waiting times to potentially spiral out of control.”
