Current status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to ensure emergency access to specialist medical services, including urology, over winter.
There is no lack of emergency access to any specialty over winter.
Our planning for this winter builds on the effective measures which have supported our health and social care services through previous years. However, we stand ready to take additional measures, if necessary, with all specialties, including urology.
We have developed our winter plan with input from the whole Health and Social Care system which brings together best practice and improvement work which we know works from lessons learned in previous winters, to ensure that the most appropriate care is received in the right place and at the right time.
Waits often occur due to a wait for an inpatient bed – in these circumstances patients will have been assessed by emergency department staff and their condition will be monitored while they remain in the department.