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Hospital accident and emergency departments in Scotland have seen waiting times for treatment fall to a record low, according to new figures.
Since December, Scottish Government targets have required that 98% of patients spend a maximum of four hours in A&E department before being admitted, discharged or transferred. Waiting time statistics just published show that in June, the figure achieved was 98.3% – the highest performance to date.
Among both inpatients and outpatients, more than 99% are seen within the 18-week national standard – a benchmark which is due to fall to 15 weeks from next March.
At the end of June, only two patients had been waiting more than nine weeks for key diagnostic tests – a figure which was hailed by the government as the best performance ever by NHS Scotland.
Public health minister Shona Robison said the figures, while very good news for patients, were “not the end of the story”.
“We cannot afford to be complacent and that’s why we are supporting boards to further cut waiting times for patients.
“We are currently working towards a whole journey maximum waiting time of 18 weeks from GP referral to treatment, to be delivered by the end of 2011,” she added.
Copyright PA Business 2008
