January the worst month on record for waits over 12 hours at A&E

Responding to new figures showing only 65.5% of people attending A&E were seen within the 4 hour target in January, the worst since December 2022, while 8,857 people waited over 12 hours, the worst on record, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"Not only has Humza Yousaf's NHS recovery plan failed to help the NHS move out of this state of constant crisis, it seems that we are still going backward and breaking all the wrong records.

"Thousands of people waiting over 12 hours at A&E month after month should be something staff and patients never have to suffer through, but under this SNP government it's practically the norm.

"The new Health Secretary needs to act now to pull our NHS out of crisis. Staff and patients cannot afford yet another year of stagnation and no recovery.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats would overhaul the NHS Recovery Plan, bring forward an urgent inquiry into the hundreds of avoidable deaths linked to the emergency care crisis and implement measures which will meaningfully tackle burnout among staff.”