One caller to NHS 24 waited more than two hours and 45 minutes to speak to an operator about their health concern, a delay which Scottish Conservative Dr Sandesh Gulhane said 'beggars belief'.
Scottish Conservative Dr Sandesh Gulhane blamed the long wait times on what he called"the SNP's chronic mismanagement of Scotland's NHS".
He went on:"Scots should not be forced to endure ridiculous wait times to speak to an operator about their health concerns."The average wait time of almost 13 minutes is simply not good enough - and it beggars belief that someone actually waited nigh on three hours to have their call answered." The member of the Scottish parliament also said people would be pushed back into calling their GP or attending A&E due to the significant waiting times for NHS 24.A spokesperson for NHS 24 said"winter pressures" had impacted demand for their services, which along with increased calls during public holidays had led to temporarily increased wait times.
They also said some callers would have hung up after listening to the recorded message directing them to alternative care, including 999, their local pharmacy or symptom checkers on NHSinform.scot. The spokesperson added:"NHS 24 is constantly improving its services and continues to recruit extra frontline staff to answer every call as quickly as possible, and to continue to provide safe and effective care to patients across Scotland 24/7."
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