NHS Fife pledge as almost 500 A&E patients faced wait of more than  eight hours

NHS Fife has said its priority is to provide safe and high quality care after the Royal College of Emergency Medicine expressed their concern over “unsustainable” summer pressure across Scotland.

Public Health Scotland figures for June showed that the proportion of patients entering and exiting emergency departments within four hours was the lowest of any June on record.

In Fife, a total of 8125 people attended at Victoria Hospital’s A&E unit with 74.5 per cent seen within the four hour Scottish Government target.

There were 2068 who had to wait over four hours, 494 who had to wait for more than eight hours and 104 patients over 12 hours.

June’s statistics showed slight improvement on May’s figures when 73.3 per cent of patients were seen and dealt with in the four hour target.

A spokesperson for NHS Fife said: “Like health boards across Scotland, NHS Fife continues to experience sustained demand across urgent and emergency care services.

“Our priority is to provide safe, high-quality care while improving patient flow and reducing waiting times.

“Patients who require admission may experience a wait for an inpatient bed during periods of high demand.

“Throughout this time, they remain under the care of our emergency department teams and continue to receive appropriate treatment and monitoring.

“Working with Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, we are implementing a range of measures to enhance patient flow by supporting timely discharge that in turn ensures hospital capacity.

“While pressures remain, these actions are helping to improve flow across the health and care system, and we remain focused on ensuring people receive the right care, in the right place, as quickly as possible.”