Ahead of a difficult winter, a medical Royal College is warning the NHS in Scotland does not have enough beds to provide safe patient care.

Figures released today show September was the second busiest month for emergency departments since the start of the pandemic.

More than 700 patients waited for more than eight hours in A&E last month, despite a target to be seen and treated within four hours.

In addition, 180 people faced delays of twelve hours or more, representing a 260% increase compared to August 2020.

This represents less than 1% of the nearly 116,229 attendances at A&E services across the country.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which represents A&E doctors, estimates Scotland needs more than 600 extra hospital beds to stop departments from becoming dangerously overcrowded. 

The gap means patients have to spend longer in A&E waiting for a bed elsewhere in the hospital to become available.

It comes as a new trial will see patients in Ayrshire and Arran asked to call 111 before they attend A&E with non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses.

The major reform will be copied nationally if the pilot is successful.

Numbers going to A&E plummeted at the start of the pandemic, prompting concerns that some people could have come to harm as they stayed away from hospital.

However, with September seeing nearly 100,000 attendances, Dr John Thomson, Scotland Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said “unacceptable” long waits were beginning to return.

“With the pressure of a difficult winter ahead, and emergency department staff still very much caring for patients alongside the threat of resurging covid cases, we simply cannot return to crowded departments,” he said.

A report by the college calculated Scotland needs an additional 639 staffed beds to maintain safe occupancy levels in hospitals.

This compares to a 9,429-bed shortfall in England, 262 in Wales and 520 in Northern Ireland.

Dr Thomson said: “We are in desperate need of more beds if we are to care for our patients safely and mitigate crowding, which should be a priority now more than ever.”

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