From BBC Scotland today, based on the RCEM union convener in Scotland:
A leading emergency doctor has said she is “completely terrified” about upcoming winter pressures on Scotland’s already-stretched NHS. Dr Fiona Hunter, vice chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said A&E departments were providing “unsafe” levels of care, with some patients spending 72 hours on trolleys in hospital corridors.
and:
She said she wanted to remedy a lack of statistics kept around corridor care and to move towards a system where preparing for winter was a “year round” activity.
BBC Scotloand have been working on this since BBC Health had thss three days ago: ‘Ominous signs’ of winter pressures as NHS waiting list grows’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxnv03e9nmp4o
Responding to the latest NHS England Corridor Care data which reported nearly 100,000 instances of corridor care in England in September, the highest since the data was first published, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
“These latest figures, 14% higher than in May, show how dangerously pressured the NHS is with winter only weeks away. The prime minister has said that corridor care is a daily reality in the NHS and politicians have let down staff across health and social care. He is right and now his government must deliver the investment in the nursing workforce, and in our health and care system, needed to eradicate this practice.
As for the lack of statistics, long waits (particularly >12 hours) are widely treated as a proxy indicator of overcrowding and the likelihood of corridor care.
In its October 2026 report Key drivers of corridor care in Scotland, RCN Scotland states:
“Waits of 12 hours or more are also far more likely to result in care being delivered in corridors and other inappropriate places. A recent RCN article (RCN, 2025b) stated: ‘In the absence of published data on corridor care, waits of 12 hours or more are the clearest indicator of corridor care taking place in hospitals, with staff unable to move people to a ward despite them being unwell enough to be admitted.’”
The report uses long A&E waits (especially >12 hours) as a key proxy indicator precisely because Scotland does not publish direct corridor care data. RCN Scotland – Key drivers of corridor care in Scotland (October 2026
England’s proportion of patients waiting >12 hours from arrival in major departments has recently been around 9–10%. Scotland’s equivalent rate has been in the region of 3.5–5%.
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Someone should tell this ‘leading’ or ‘top’ doctor that words have meanings. I am sure that when she was at university the importance of precision in language would have been emphasised. Also, if she is working in emergency services then stressful circumstances are, unfortunately, part of the job. So, practitioners have to learn to cope with stress. However, if someone is (sic) ‘absolutely terrified’ one has to ask if she is suited for the job.
Of course, the persistent stress in an A&E will take its toll unless staff have proper test and recuperation periods as well as counselling if required. Comparatively speaking, NHS Scotland is relatively well staffed. It is also seeking to ease the pressures on A&E by offering people alternatives such as treatment by pharmacists, Minor Injuries Units! NHS24, services by paramedics.
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Dr Fiona Hunter, vice chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland also says in the BBC Scotland article..
“Some departments across the UK are working at 500% capacity but they don’t have 500% extra staff to deal with that.
Eh?
How is Scotland preparing.
https://www.gov.scot/news/new-winter-health-plan-to-ease-hospital-pressures/
“In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, the Health Secretary set out several actions to provide guidance to health and social care systems ahead of winter, including:
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When reading across the press statements that the RCEM makes regularly on the waiting times performances of the NHS in England, the north of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, it is rare to find it refer directly to between nation comparisons. In particular, the longstanding better performance of NHS Scotland tends not to be acknowledged although clearly evident in time series graphs tucked away in the RCEM’s website.
Rare but not never! One such occurrence in a recent RCEM press statement on NHS Scotland (see below) strikes me as rather ‘odd’ if not perverse!
For context, from the RCEM (October 8) on NHS England: “10% of A&E patients waited more than half a day last month as ‘unacceptable’ ED crisis rages on..”
‘The proportion of patients waiting 12 hours is the highest it has been in four years, at 10.1%. That means a total of 157,574 people waiting more than half a day in an Emergency Department (ED) last month.’ (my emphasis)
And it notes: ‘Last month, an average of 13,647 beds were occupied by patients who were medically fit to be discharged – but could not leave hospital. This is typically because of delays in the hospital or a lack of social care capacity.’
Dr Ian Higginson, RCEM President, is quoted: “We need urgent and concrete action to tackle delays at the ‘back door’ of our hospitals from the government.
“The Prime Minister has made it clear he intends to reform social care – that is a welcome step, but we cannot wait years before a decision is made about what changes are needed. There has been too much kicking of cans down the road.” Dr Higginson should be asking why the PM has not drawn on the solutions to such A&E and social care challenges available to him from Lord Sarwar and his former deputy in Scotland, Dame Jackie Baillie. Did they not have well worked-out, ready to implement solutions to similar challenges in Scotland?
Missing from the RCEM’s press statement is this: the official NHS England report notes that 60.6% of patients attending its Type 1 (main) Emergency Departments during September were admitted, discharged or transferred within the 4 hour standard. This compares to 61.1% in August 2026 and 61.1% in September 2025.
Now to NHS Scotland and the rare but ‘odd’ comparison the RCEM opts to make. On NHS Scotland, on October 7: ‘RCEM: Worst August Emergency Department performance on record shows need for urgent action ahead of winter.’
The RCEM states: ‘Only 62.3% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, far below the Scottish Government’s 95% target and almost on a par with performance levels in England.’ So 62.3% compared to 60.6% is deemed newsworthy – and note the use of ‘only’: has the RCEM set out to frame press statements to be especially unfavourable to NHS Scotland?
And then from the RCEM, this in Scotland: ‘5.4% of patients waited more than 12 hours, equivalent to 6,965 patients, almost 20 times higher than July 2019 levels.’
Note the comparison with 2019, one NOT made for NHS England. And note the ABSENCE of a comparison between 5.4% in Scotland and 10.1% in England. This decision NOT to make a comparison of what are very substantially different 12 hour stats in Scotland and in England is despite the fact that it is precisely such long stays in A&E – not 4 hour ones – that the RCEM argues adversely impacts patient mortality rates. Odd?
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