Scandal of 300 Scots forced to wait TWO DAYS to be treated at hospital A&E's
Hundreds of patients have had to endure 'agonising' waits of more than two full days to be admitted to accident and emergeny wards in Scotland's hospitals.
By MICHAEL BLACKLEY SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR
Published: 19:04 GMT, 1 January 2026 | Updated: 19:11 GMT, 1 January 2026
Hundreds of patients have had to endure ‘agonising’ waits of more than 48 hours to be admitted to accident and emergency wards in Scotland’s hospitals.
New figures reveal the huge numbers facing major delays despite the SNP introducing a target for 95 per cent of people attending A&E to be seen within four hours.
In the period from January to August 2025, 275 patients endured waits of more than two days.
The number facing the longest waits has skyrocketed in recent years, compared to just 12 patients waiting more than two days in 2019 and seven in 2020.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘Nowhere is the SNP’s failure clearer than in our NHS. After 18 years in charge, Scots are suffering agonising waits in A&E, desperate to get help.
‘Despite the spin from John Swinney and Neil Gray – who claim the NHS is heading in the right direction – it is obvious that our health service is nowhere near where it needs to be, with people unable to quickly access help in their time of greatest need.
‘Patients are having to suffer, and staff are being let down, because of the SNP’s abject failure to get to grips with this crisis, with taxpayers paying the price for the utter incompetence of ministers.
‘The truth is that our NHS won’t survive a third decade of this tired, knackered and out-of-touch SNP government.’
The number facing the longest waits has skyrocketed in recent years
Health secretary Neil Gray has come under increasing pressure over waiting times in Scotland's hospitals
Ms Baillie added: ‘As First Minister, Anas Sarwar will ensure our NHS is free and available at the point of need, declare a national waiting times emergency and do whatever it takes to fix our NHS.’
The new figures, obtained by Labour following a freedom of information request to Public Health Scotland, showed that 275 patients waited more than 48 hours in 2025 up to August, while 1,380 waited more than 36 hours and 7,965 had waits of more than 24 hours.