NHS Lothian has been shown to have one of the worst A&E waiting times in the country, according to new research.
The health board was ranked as having the third longest wait to be seen in hospital, alongside NHS Borders and NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
The new data comes despite the fact that accident and Emergency (A&E) attendances have plummeted to the second-lowest level recorded.
Edinburgh Live reports a total of 80,423 patients visited a Scottish A&E department in February, 47,918 fewer than the same month last year - before coronavirus was discovered in Scotland.
However, despite the low attendance rates, thousands of people still had to wait longer than four hours to be seen, with NHS Lothian only managing to see 81.8 per cent of patients within this time.
The only areas where this rate was worse was in NHS Borders, where only 74.7 per cent of patients were seen, and in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, where 81.1 per cent were seen.
Meanwhile, 98.2 per cent of patients were seen within four hours in Shetland, followed by Tayside and the Western Isles (both 96. per cent.
Asked about the latest figures at a Scottish Government coronavirus briefing recently, the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said: “Our increasing focus now is on remobilising and recovering the NHS to start to bring down the waiting times and the backlogs that have been created by Covid.”
Scotland’s national clinical director, Professor Jason Leitch, said: “January/February is always a bit of a perfect storm for A&E staff, patients and families.
“Two things combined: winter, the normal January/February numbers; but also, lest we forget, a second wave of Covid-19, which causes challenges both at the front door, but also downstream inside the hospital, inside the wards where we’ve had to have beds available for Covid-19 patients - and hundreds of them, during that period.”
Mr Leitch added: “A&E staff have performed heroically during that period, the teams that have put themselves in that front line, have done very, very well during that period.
“They are tired, but I wouldn’t describe that as the reason for some of these long waits.”
Jacquie Campbell, Chief Officer for Acute Services, NHS Lothian, said: “We have a clear system to ensure patients who need urgent care the most are seen first at A&E. However, additional infection control and physical distancing measures can extend waiting times.
“To help patients access the right care we’ve been asking them to dial 111 first if they think they need A&E, but it is not life threatening, to be directed to the right service or given an appointment to attend hospital conveniently and safely.”
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