First Minister apologises for deaths caused by long A&E waits

First Minister John Swinney has apologised to the families of 818 people who are suspected to have died as a result of long A&E waits.

A report from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) Scotland, published this week, estimated excess deaths related to waits of more than 12 hours last year were up by a third.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar raised the matter at First Minister's Questions, saying SNP “incompetence” on the NHS was resulting in poorer outcomes, including excess deaths.

He said: “The sad fact is that despite the heroic efforts of NHS staff, the SNP is failing patients across Scotland.”

Swinney said he regrets those deaths but pointed to his government's efforts to reduce waiting times. He highlighted recent statistics showing waits of more than 12 hours in A&E were down.

He also apologised for the case of Brooke Paterson, who had to wait five hours for an ambulance after breaking her leg playing football.

The first minister said this was related to an “error” in how her call was handled and it was not given the “priority it should have” been.

A&E waiting time statistics are published on a regular basis. The latest, for July 2025, found 71.1 per cent of people were seen within four hours – but 9.1 per cent waited more than eight hours, while 3.7 per cent waited over half a day.

All these figures, however, are improvements on the monthly average across 2024.

The RCEM calculates excess deaths using a standard mortality ratio, which estimates one person dies for every 72 who experience an eight-12 hour wait before admission.

Dr Fiona Hunter, vice president of RCEM Scotland, said: “These are patients who are sick and need further care on a ward, so they are forced to endure extreme wait times for an inpatient bed to become available for them. Often, they will be experiencing this, counting the hours they have been in ED [emergency departments], on a trolley in a corridor, cupboard, or simply any available floor space.

“It doesn’t have to be this way – the crisis is fixable and it comes down to patient flow in hospitals – getting people out of ED and into a ward bed and getting them out of hospital when they are well enough to go home.”

Also publishing its manifesto ahead of next year’s election, the RCEM has called on political parties to increase the number of emergency medicine staff, ensure the NHS receives adequate resource, and end overcrowding in emergency departments.

Earlier in FMQs, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay accused the government of “actively harming Scotland's business innovation and putting jobs at risk”.

He was referring to a report out on Thursday morning which concluded Scotland was performing worse against a number of metrics relating to its national innovation strategy. 

Swinney said Findlay's “doom-laden analysis” was “not supported” by the facts. He said economic growth in Scotland was faster than in England.

He also took aim at the UK Labour government's decision to increase national insurance employer contributions, arguing this was “damaging the economy”.