NHS Forth Valley: Warning A&E at FVRH is 'extremely busy'

This afternoon’s announcement follows a similar message yesterday when the health board warned of very long waits at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert.

Early evening on Monday they posted on social media that people should not attend if it was not life-threatening. Instead they should call NHS 24 on 111 to get advice and treatment as quickly as possible.

The same message was again given out this afternoon.

It comes as the latest waiting time figures show that less than half those attending the Larbert emergency department last week were treated, admitted or discharged within the four hour time-frame.

However, 49.2 per cent seen in four hours was an improvement in recent weeks – at the start of September the figure was as low as 41.8 per cent.

The latest average across Scotland is 66.6 per cent seen within four hours.

The number of the 1178 patients who attended and waited over eight hours was slightly improved – 265 last week compared to 287 the week before.

There was also a small drop in the number waiting more than 12 hours, down from 97 to 93 but still well above the 55 at the end of September.

Across Scotland performance against the four-hour target has been below 80 per cent since the summer of 2021 based on monthly data from all A&E sites.

The target has been 95 per cent since 2007.