WAITING times at NHS Lothian’s Accident and Emergency departments have increased since last year.

Statistics show that 81.8 per cent of people were seen at hospital A&E departments across the health board area within the four-hour standard timeframe in February – down more than three per cent from January. In March 2020, the rate was 86.5 per cent.

The Edington Hospital in North Berwick – which has a nurse-led minor injuries unit – was the only provider in the Lothians to achieve a 100 per cent rating in this category.

Across Scotland’s health boards, only NHS Ayrshire and Arran (81.1 per cent) and NHS Borders (74.7 per cent) fared worse than Lothian.

The data from Public Health Scotland also shows that since August last year, the number of monthly attendances at A&Es across NHS Lothian has continuously decreased, from 21,136 in August to 14,803 in February.

Since 2007, the national standard is that 95 per cent of patients wait no longer than four hours from arrival to admission, discharge or transfer.

The recent figures show that only hospitals in Shetland, Tayside and the Western Isles had a percentage higher than 95.

Across Scotland, there was a large drop in attendance at A&E compared to a year earlier.

There were 80,423 attendances to A&E services in Scotland in February; 86.2 per cent were seen and admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

In February 2020, the number of attendances was 128,341.

A total of 1,786 people spent more than eight hours in an A&E department; 483 spent more than 12 hours, with 32.6 per cent of attendances leading to a hospital admission.

Jacquie Campbell, chief officer for acute services at NHS Lothian, said: “We have a clear system to ensure patients who need urgent care the most are seen first at A&E. However, additional infection control and physical distancing measures can extend waiting times. In line with national policy, we’ve been asking patients to access the right care by dialling 111 first if they think they need A&E but it is not life-threatening, to be directed to the right service or given an appointment to attend hospital conveniently and safely.”