By  Cameron Noble

Following the record attendance of 306 children at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children in one day, parents are encouraged to avoid A&E wherever possible.

71.5% of those who arrived at the emergency department of the Royal Hospital for Children were seen and admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

Resulting from a dramatic decrease in Scotland’s emergency departments’ waiting time performance, nearly 500 children waited longer than four hours, and 17 waited more than eight hours in the week ending November 20th.

Attached to the Royal Hospital for Children, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital had managed to deal with 35.1% of attendees within a four-hour period – the worst figures for any individual hospital recorded, according to Public Health Scotland.

Over the entire of Scotland, wait time performance for the week ending November 20th dropped to 63.1% – an alarming figure, considering the Scottish Government’s target aims to deal with 95% of attendees within four hours.

Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, commented on the issue: “The figures for Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow are especially horrendous – the worst ever for any individual hospital with just 35.1% of patients seen within four hours.

“This is completely unacceptable and incredibly alarming for the safety of patients and staff at the hospital.”

Figures suggest the NHS will be undertaking the heaviest challenge to date over the winter period to find a way to improve their wait time performance and strive for 95% efficiency. Yousaf identified apparent factors which have contributed to the decreasing wait time performance and explained the £600m plan which is to be set to tackle the issue.

“Covid continues to impact the performance of services and pandemic backlogs, Brexit-driven staff shortages, and inflation costs have all contributed to make this winter the most challenging the NHS has ever faced.

“Delayed discharge continues to be the single biggest factor driving up A&E waits and we are working hard to ensure people are leaving hospital without delay, freeing up vital beds for those who need them most.

“A key focus of our winter plan is on social care and actions to encourage authorities to help ease delays.

“Our £600m winter plan will see us recruit 1,000 new NHS staff and our £50m urgent and unscheduled care collaborative looks to drive down A&E waits through scheduled urgent appointments, hospital at home and directing people to the most appropriate care.”