NHS Scotland performance against LDP standards

Performance data on the current Local Delivery Plan (LDP) Standards - priorities set and agreed between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards to provide assurance on NHS Scotland performance. 


LDP standard

95% of patients to wait no longer than four hours from arrival to admission, discharge or transfer for A&E treatment. Boards to work towards 98%.

Current national performance

In September 2022, 69.0% of patients waited less than four hours.

About this LDP standard

95% of all A&E patients should be admitted, discharged or transferred within four hours of arrival at an A&E department across NHS Scotland (including Minor Injury Units). This standard is seen as a milestone towards returning to the 98% standard. This is necessary to ensure that all patients receive the most appropriate treatment, intervention, support and services at the right time, in the right place by the right person.

Although the standard is measured in the Accident & Emergency Department, Health Boards are required to ensure best practice is installed throughout the whole system, including health and social care, supporting joined up work to address wider issues of patient flow through each hospital that will safeguard the timely access to services across the patient’s journey and ensure the whole NHS system works together effectively.

Performance against this standard

The standard is for 95% of patients to wait no longer than four hours from arrival to admission, discharge or transfer for A&E treatment with boards to working towards 98%.

In September 2022, 69.0% of patients waited less than four hours.

As a result of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, the number of attendances to A&E departments declined significantly in 2020 due to the public following health advice and staying home as well as hospitals redirecting patients at the front door to more appropriate services. However, as pandemic related restrictions begin to lessen, as expected we have seen a rise in non-Covid attendances and admissions. Combined with other factors such as reduced capacity due to infection control and staffing gaps due to isolation and annual leave, this is having a detrimental impact on performance recovery.

The Scottish Government launched the Redesign of Urgent Care Programme which aims to ensure people are seen safely and to help the public access the right care in the right place at the right time, often as close to home as possible. Through this new approach NHS 24 will now provide a 24/7 service for those who think they need to go to A&E but it is not an emergency with the possibility to receive a virtual consultation with a clinician and, if required, a scheduled appointment at A&E. In time, we expect this will reduce the need for many people to go to A&E as they receive the self-care advice they need virtually and more attendances to hospital will be scheduled minimising delays where possible.

The graph below shows national performance on the four hour A&E standard since April 2015.

NHS Board level performance is shown for the most recent time period in the table below.

The table below shows the percentage of patients in A&E seen within 4 hours, by NHS Board, for September 2022.

NHS Board

September 2022

NHS AYRSHIRE & ARRAN

69.0%

NHS BORDERS

67.9%

NHS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY

75.6%

NHS FIFE

67.7%

NHS FORTH VALLEY

58.8%

NHS GRAMPIAN

69.5%

NHS GREATER GLASGOW & CLYDE

72.1%

NHS HIGHLAND

84.5%

NHS LANARKSHIRE

56.7%

NHS LOTHIAN

60.9%

NHS ORKNEY

88.9%

NHS SHETLAND

93.4%

NHS TAYSIDE

88.8%

NHS WESTERN ISLES

98.4%

NHS SCOTLAND

69.0%

Source: A&E data mart, ISD Scotland

Further information

PHS publishes a release which contains weekly activity and waiting times statistics for the 30 Emergency Departments in Scotland which provide a 24 hour emergency medicine consultant led service. Users are advised to view these statistics as providing a useful insight on activity levels, which when taken together with PHS’s monthly report, provide a balanced package of timely and comprehensive statistics.

The most recent report showed that over the week ending 11:59pm on Sunday 04 December 2022:

  • there were 25,450 attendances to Scotland’s 30 Emergency Departments
  • the proportion of attendances to those 30 Emergency Departments that were seen and subsequently admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours was 63.4%

Please note that the monthly and weekly figures are not directly comparable. The four hour Accident and Emergency waiting time Standard relates to all sites that carry out accident and emergency activity in Scotland. This includes the 30 Emergency Departments as well as Minor Injuries Units (MIUs) and other facilities. The weekly figures however are based on only the 30 Emergency Departments and not the Minor Injuries Units.

Further information on weekly emergency department activity and waiting time statistics.

Healthcare quality strategy for NHSScotland

Emergency department activity and waiting times statistics

Related National Outcomes

Page updated : 13 December 2022

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