The SNP has today highlighted new figures showing that Scotland’s NHS is ‘streets ahead’ of the NHS south of the border on A&E waiting times – as Scottish Government investment in our health service continues to pay off.
Figures published today show that across core A&E sites 88.6 per cent of patients in England were admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E within four hours of arrival – compared to 94 per cent of patients in Scotland.
The figures also show that Scotland was the only UK nation to see an improvement in overall performance in October 2015 compared to October 2014 – 94.7 per cent of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours in October 2015, compared to 91.8 per cent in October 2014.
Under the SNP, staff numbers in Scotland’s NHS have risen to record levels – with more than 10,600 new staff since 2006, while the NHS budget is now above £12 billion for the first time.
Commenting, SNP MSP Bob Doris said:
“While south of the border, the Tories press ahead with their privatisation agenda; the SNP is committed to ensuring that the NHS in Scotland remains firmly in public hands. That’s why the SNP government has increased the health service budget by £3 billion since coming to office and, if re-elected, will protect the NHS resource budget for each year of the next parliament.
“However, while real progress is being made in Scotland’s NHS, we are aware that there is more that needs to be done to continue to support patients and our hard-working NHS staff – and the SNP will never stop working to ensure that people in Scotland enjoy the first-rate health service they deserve.”
