Local MSP Jackie Baillie has accused the SNP Government in Edinburgh of setting targets for hardworking NHS staff then failing to deliver the resources to meet them, following the publication of the latest A&E waiting times statistics.

New official figures show that the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley failed to meet the SNP’s interim target of 95% of patients seen within four hours at A&E and there was a drop in performance from last week.

The RAH has only managed to meet the 95% target on one occasion since the SNP Government began publishing weekly figures in February 2015.

Jackie said:

“The SNP set targets for our hardworking NHS staff and then don’t deliver the resources to meet them, and it is local patients who lose out.   

“Our NHS is Scotland’s most valued public service but only a third of NHS staff believe there are enough of them to do their jobs properly. Under the SNP they are undervalued, overworked and under intolerable pressure. 

“Over 7,600 people at the RAH have waited longer than the SNP promised they would at A&E in the last year. If the health board’s proposals to cut all remaining emergency care services at the Vale of Leven Hospital go ahead then this will lead to even longer waits for local patients.

“Instead of cutting local services we should be opening up a new A&E ward to serve our local communities north of the river. This would help ease the pressure on services across the whole region.”