The Scottish Government are failing NHS staff in Dumfries & Galloway.
That’s the message from Dumfriesshire MSP Elaine Murray after figures published this week showed that 68 people across the region waited in A&E for more than four hours in the week ending January 31.
Only 90.5% of patients were seen within four hours in A&E at Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary.
The Scottish Government’s own target is for 95% of patients to be seen within four hours, with a long term target of 98%.
Dr Murray said that the Scottish Government’s sticking plaster approach to the NHS is putting too much pressure on NHS staff, who do not have the resources or the support they need to deliver the care patients deserve.
Dumfriesshire MSP Elaine Murray said:
“Now more than ever we need a health service based on patients’ need and not the ability to pay, with the resources to deliver the care Scots deserve. Under the SNP Government in Edinburgh, NHS staff are being overworked and are undervalued. We know that only a third of our NHS workforce believe there are enough staff for them to do their jobs properly and it is patients who pay the price here in Dumfries & Galloway.
“With 68 patients across the region waiting for over four hours last week alone, it’s clear that if NHS staff are being expected to hit the targets the SNP have set then they should be provided with the proper support and resources they need.
“We need to ensure that our NHS, founded in the 1940s, is ready to face the challenges of the 2040s.
“It’s time we took the pressure off of our hospitals by delivering better care at home with a national care-workers’ guarantee, which means a living wage and better terms and conditions to develop a workforce to deliver the care vulnerable Scots need.”
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