THOUSANDS of patients are waiting more than four hours to be seen at casualty departments in west of Scotland hospitals every week according to new figures.

And this is despite the hospitals seeing fewer patients.

Hospitals with Accident and Emergency departments, including the Royal, Western and Victoria infirmaries, in Glasgow, reported almost 15,000 patients a year were waiting more than the standard four hours to be seen.

From April to December 2011 the Glasgow Royal Infirmary was the second busiest hospital casualty unit in Scotland, dealing with more than 7000 cases a month, with the city's other major hospitals taking another 15,000 patients between them and the Sick Kids' hospital at Yorkhill dealing with 3500 every month.

At Yorkhill, the best performing A&E unit, 97% of children were seen within the four hour waiting time. Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital had the longest waiting times, with 93% of patients attended to within four hours.

The figures, released by the Scottish Government, show 344,504 people attended casualty units in Greater Glasgow and Clyde hospitals and 14,888 had to wait over four hours.

A comparison with the same period in 2010, showed 352,121 people attended and just over 13,000 waited over four hours.

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "We are committed to meeting the 98% guarantee and we continue through the redesign of our service to seek to achieve this target."

Health bosses said too many people attend A&E for conditions or complaints that do not constitute an emergency.

Dr Alastair Ireland, A&E consultant and Clinical Director of Emergency Medicine for NHSGGC, said: "Every day some people attend emergency departments with problems that are not serious or an emergency.

"They take up valuable NHS time and actually divert our services away from the people who need them most."

The Government also revealed the number of staff employed in the NHS in Scotland fell very slightly in the second half of last year, with just 65 fewer staff in post

Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said "The NHS is in a period of transition and as the balance of care shifts towards more community care and shorter hospital stays the shape and size of the workforce must reflect that.

"My main priority is to ensure that the health service continues to deliver the very best quality of care for patients."

stewart.paterson@ eveningtimes.co.uk

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