ACCIDENT and Emergency waiting times at the Borders General Hospital (BGH) throughout June were longer than the national average, according to the latest NHS Scotland figures.
In June, 2,645 people attended A&E at the hospital and 81.5 per cent were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours compared to 85 per cent of the 136,847 from throughout Scotland.
Four hundred and eighty nine patients waited over four hours, 87 waited over eight hours and 45 over 12-hours in the Borders.
In the region, 31.9 per cent of attendees required hospital admission compared to 24.1 per cent for Scotland. 
In the week ending 25 July, 671 people had attended the BGH A&E and only 76.8 per cent were dealt with within the four-hour period compared to the national percentage of 79.7.
Of the 671 patients, 156 waited over four hours, 37 waited over eight hours and 17 waited over 12-hours, according to the figures. 
The Scottish Government’s target is for 95 per cent of patients to wait no longer than four hours, although this has not been met since July 2020.
A higher proportion of patients waiting longer than the Scottish Government’s target across the country has only been recorded once before – in December 2019, when 83.8 per cent were seen in four hours.
June’s figure is down from the 87.2 per cent recorded in May, and significantly below the 95.6 per cent seen in four hours during the same month last year.
Asked about the waiting time figures on Tuesday during her coronavirus briefing, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “In terms of A&E waiting times, there is undoubtedly a big COVID impact on that but, as we all know, the flow of patients into and through our National Health Service is complex.
“Therefore there are issues around the reasons and the circumstances in which people are presenting at A&E, whether that’s always appropriate or whether there are better places for them to go. 
“Often the speed at which people will go through A&E will depend on pressure elsewhere in a hospital.
“Some of that right now will be COVID but there are other factors at play around all of that as well, which is why we’re doing a lot of work around supporting and encouraging people to go to the most appropriate place for care rather than everybody, almost by default, going to A&E.
“NHS recovery is a big feature of all of our work right now and will continue to be the case for quite some time to come.”
A spokesperson for NHS Borders said: “In June 2021 almost 82 per cent of people who attended our Emergency Department were seen and subsequently admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours. This is slightly below the national average of 85 per cent for the same time period.
“During this time we were under significant pressure with large numbers attending our Emergency Department; many of whom were unwell and had to be admitted to our care. In line with many other healthcare organisations, staffing remains difficult across NHS Borders and we are very cognisant of how exhausted our workforce are after 18 exceptionally challenging months. These components combined have meant that we have not been able move people through the hospital system as swiftly as we would have liked.
“We are continuing to implement improvement work to actively reduce Emergency Department waiting times. In the meantime we would ask the people of the Borders to help by only attending if you require emergency care for life-threatening emergencies. If you have a minor injury or urgent health problem which isn’t life-threatening please consider alternative routes such as Community Pharmacy, General Practice or NHS 24 on 111. 
“This will allow you to be referred to the right care in the right place.”