Swinney spends night in A&E to understand NHS challenges

First Minister John Swinney has revealed he spent an evening observing in an Accident and Emergency department to help him understand the challenges facing Scotland’s NHS.

Mr Swinney previously said he is giving “very personal leadership” to the NHS and is supporting Health Secretary Neil Gray.

It comes as Scotland’s hospitals are dealing with what Mr Gray has described as “significant winter pressures” despite hospital admissions for flu falling.

Mr Swinney told the Daily Record he has been working with Mr Gray to “make sure that we give everything we can to make sure the National Health Service is able to navigate its way through the challenges that we are facing”.

He also visited an A&E unit in Edinburgh over the festive season to see the situation first hand.

He told the newspaper: “I felt I needed to understand that directly and vividly from my own perspective.

“So I spent (a) Saturday evening in the emergency department of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and I obviously saw a lot of congestion.”

He added: “It is the type of really visible, hands-on experience which is invaluable for me as First Minister in looking at what we are wrestling with and what can we most effectively put in place to support the system.”

Mr Swinney said authorities must be “intensely focused” on increasing the number of cases that are dealt with by the health service.

He said work is focusing on ensuring people get quicker access to treatment and are supported to get care “at the earliest possible opportunity.”

During First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday January 9 Mr Swinney told MSPs the number of people admitted to hospital with flu had spiked at 1,596 in the week ending December 29 – with this being the highest weekly total recorded by Public Health Scotland since 2010.

Since then admissions have fallen by 36%, but Mr Swinney said the figures show the “severity of the crisis that we have seen with flu in our country”.

He also apologised to a retired police officer who spent more than five hours lying on the floor in A&E in pain before he was treated.