Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital notched up the fourth worst A&E performance in Scotland last week, despite bosses looking to pile on the pressure.
Just 46.7 per cent of patients who attended at the hospital’s emergency department in the week ending December 8th, were seen in four hours.
But the site is earmarked to receive more patients as NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde look to pull overnight Minor Injuries cover from the Vale of Leven Hospital.
The RAH managed the fourth worst performance in Scotland – poorer even than the under-pressure Queen Elizabeth University Hospital at Govan, which saw almost double the number of patients and still managed 47.1 per cent performance against target.
A total of 553 patients attended the Paisley site’s A&E department, while 1,019 were seen at the QEUH.
Scottish Government targets – rarely met since the pandemic – call for 95 per cent of patients to be treated, transferred or admitted within four hours.
And it emerged last week that health board bosses want to pull overnight GP Minor Injuries services which cover the Vale Hospital overnight, meaning more patients will seek treatment at Paisley’s A&E.
The board wants to bring Minor Injuries provision at the Vale into line with sites including Stobhill and New Victoria hospitals, where Minor Injuries Units run from 9am until 9pm only.
The Minor Injuries and Medical Assessment units at the Vale of Leven Hospital were designed to ensure as much Out-Of-Hours Care could remain in the community as possible, in the wake of the controversial downgrade of the site.
In 2007, as the future of the Vale in the wake of the changes was still under discussion, then Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon and her successor, Shona Robison, oversaw the creation of the 2009 Vision for the Vale document.
The blueprint for care committed to retaining unscheduled medical services and accommodating between 70 and 80 per cent of the cases diverted to the Medical Assessment Unit, as well as pledging no change for patients passing through the Minor Injuries Unit.
But the health board has been criticised by campaigners, including former GP Patrick Trust who helped design the model, for looking to make cuts through “the back door”, without consulting with patients or staff.
The move would almost certainly see more patients bound for already under-pressure A&E sites elsewhere.
MSP Jackie Baillie has also written to the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Health, Neil Gray, asking him to call off the move.
She said: “The situation at Scotland’s A&E departments is already perilous and the pressure will only ratchet up as winter advances and the real crisis hits.
“The SNP must use its record additional £5.2 billion budget settlement from the UK Labour government to end the logjam in our hospitals and ensure that patients who turn up needing help are quickly seen and treated.
“So far they have failed to heed warnings and come up with a coherent plan to assist hard-working NHS staff who are being pushed to the brink.
“To think that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are willing to add to that pressure by diverting more patients to A&E departments from the Vale Hospital, beggars belief.
“I call on the Scottish Government to honour pledges that both it and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde made to the people in communities served by the Vale of Leven Hospital and retain full Minor Injuries provision, on a 24 hour basis.”
Scotland’s worst performing A&E department was at Forth Valley Royal Infirmary, where just 39.8 per cent of 11,638 patients who attended in the week until December 8th, were seen in line with the four-hour target.
