A PATIENT had to wait for more than five days before being treated at the A&E department at Crosshouse Hospital, according to new government figures.

The wait of 122 hours was the longest on record anywhere in Scotland during 2023.

Figures revealed under freedom of information (FOI) show that 7,367 patients spent more than 24 hours in emergency departments across Scotland during 2023 before being discharged, admitted or transferred.

The Public Health Scotland statistics, revealed following an FOI request by Scottish Labour, show that waits of over 88 hours were recorded in NHS Borders, and 72 hours in NHS Lanarkshire.

Of the 14 health boards in Scotland, nine had waits of more than a day, with just Western Isles, Tayside, Shetland, Orkney and Lothian recording no waits of 24 hours or more.

However, Public Health Scotland says some attendances recorded as more than 24 hours will be due to erroneous records that suggest longer waits than actually occurred.

Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie accused the SNP of mismanaging Scotland's health services.

She said: “Scotland’s A&E departments are in the grip of a deadly crisis, with lives being put on the line day in and day out.

“That some people have waited days – even a working week – to be seen is dangerous and disgraceful.

“Hard-pressed A&E staff are working tirelessly to look after patients, but SNP mismanagement has created a perfect storm in our hospitals.

“Neil Gray [the new cabinet secretary for health] has inherited an NHS in deadly disarray from his colleagues.

“It’s time for action to be taken now to bolster A&E departments by tackling delayed discharges and investing in primary care to avoid putting further pressure on hospital services.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We know that long delays remain too high and we continue to work with health boards to reduce these instances, which are not unique to Scotland.

“A&E performance is impacted by pressures from across the wider health and social care system, which is why our unscheduled care collaborative programme is taking a whole system approach as we work with health boards to deliver sustained improvement.

“Hospital bed occupancy continues to be a major factor impacting on performance.

"To address this, the delayed discharge and hospital occupancy action plan is being implemented at pace, delivering actions we know work to ensure patients receive the right care in the right setting.”