THE Scottish Government’s flagship policy to tackle chronic A & E waiting times may be axed by the country’s largest city next week.

And the abandonment of Hospital at Home in the city will add at least 15 patients to hospital inpatient departments and do nothing to ease congestion at the country’s biggest hospitals, Glasgow’s QEUH.

The latest figures show just a fraction over half of all patients arriving at A & E there are seen within the four-hour-target – way below the latest Scottish average of 67.4% and even further below the 95% target.

Successive Health Secretaries have looked to extending Hospital at Home services to ease congestion at hospital front doors and prevent ambulances queuing up outside for hours at a time.

But now Glasgow’s Integrated Joint Board proposes to axe the service – designed to reduce hospital admissions for elderly patients by providing acute treatments such in the comfort and familiarity of their own home.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Economic Matters