Scottish emergency unit waiting times are lengthening

The number of patients waiting longer than four hours to be treated in hospital emergency departments in Scotland has almost trebled in recent years.

A review carried out by Audit Scotland found that around 104 000 patients waited longer than four hours in 2012-13, up from 36 000 in 2008-9. Total attendances at Scotland’s 31 emergency departments fell slightly over this period, but there is some evidence that increasing numbers of elderly …