12 May 2015

International Nurses Day (IND) is celebrated around the world on the 12^th of May each year, to mark the contributions nurses make to society.

The First Minister today visited Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary with Health Secretary Shona Robison, to thank frontline staff, many of whom are nurses, for all their hard work and effort in helping  to improve Accident and Emergency waiting times across Scotland.

During the visit the First Minister, spoke to staff working in the Emergency Department about some of the pressures and challenges of working in such a vital part of the National Health Service. The latest national figures showed 93.5 per cent of patients are being treated and then either discharged or admitted within four hours at core A&E sites across Scotland and these statistics are the best since weekly figures started to be reported earlier this year.

Happy #InternationalNursesDay! This morning @ScotGovFM met with nurses at the ERI to thank them for their work. pic.twitter.com/jGd2iDgSkr

— Scot Gov Health (@scotgovhealth) May 12, 2015

The First Minister made it clear, there was no room for complacency and that there is still much work to do to ensure that Scotland meets its world leading targets. However is also confident that by both the Scottish Government and Health Boards working together, improvements could be sustained for the future.

During the visit the First Minister, said:

Today’s figures show that A&E performance across Scotland is continuing to improve. These weekly figures are the best we’ve had since we first started publishing them in March, but we still have work to do to reach our targets and make sure that everyone in Scotland gets discharged or admitted within four hours.

“The improving figures are a tribute to the hard work and dedication of staff working at the frontline of our health service in emergency departments across the country.

“There is no doubt that there is still much work to do on A&E performance. However, with record funding and staffing in place, and a commitment to tackling delayed discharge, including through the integration of health and social care, we have the strong foundations in place to ensure our NHS continues to deliver for the people of Scotland.”