PATIENTS in Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven need a “north of the river” A&E to reduce waiting times and ease the pressure on NHS staff.

That’s the view of Jackie Baillie MSP who claims accident and emergency services at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley are in crisis under the SNP.

Ms Baillie said the Paisley emergency ward – the closest to Dumbarton and the Vale –missed the four-hour standard to admit, transfer or discharge patients during one week in December.

Nearly one-in-five patients had to wait more than four hours and 45 patients had to wait more than eight hours, including one patient who faced a 12-hour wait in A&E.

Only three other hospitals in Scotland have longer waiting times than the RAH, according to figures obtained by the Labour MSP.

Across Scotland, an average of 86.9 per cent of patients were seen within the standard time, down from the previous week.

Ms Baillie said: “These figures were a nightmare before Christmas for the SNP and Health Secretary Shona Robison.

“We need a north of the river A&E to reduce waiting times and ease the pressure on our NHS staff.”

However, the health secretary told the Reporter the NHS was focused on long-term, sustainable change in order to maintain high levels of performance during peaks and troughs.

She said: “NHS staff working this festive season are giving patients the best possible care in the face of exceptional pressures.

“Unnecessary long waits are unacceptable, and that’s why we’ve worked with frontline staff to deliver our Six Essential Actions for A&E.

“Our additional £22.4 million to deal with pressures this year is being is invested into additional clinical and non-clinical staff to create extra resilience and maintain weekend and festive period patient discharges, so that there is sufficient capacity across the system.”

Ms Baillie said: “Our doctors and nurses do fantastic work, but they have been left over-worked, under-valued and under-resourced by this SNP government.

“The RAH is clearly struggling to cope with the demand from patients in Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond.

“The fact that nearly one in five patients are stuck in A&E waiting rooms for up to eight or even twelve hours must surely force the Health Secretary to rethink how emergency services are delivered to local patients.”