John Swinney's SNP pledge to help frail patients that top doctor confirms has been missed

Earlier this year, First Minister John Swinney said his Government would be installing frailty teams at hospital front doors by the end of the summer. These teams would divert older patients away from A&E and onto other clinical services instead.

However, Dr Fiona Hunter, an A&E consultant and vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine RCEM), said this promise had not been met - and the problems facing A&E departments would not be fixed until the Government invested more in social care.

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Dr Hunter said: “There are initiatives we have been led to believe would be happening. We were told there would be frailty teams at the front door by the end of summer. But as far as I can see, summer is over and having discussed it with the rest of the clinical leads in every emergency department across Scotland, I’ve only heard of one department where that is actually taking place.

“The idea of these initiatives are good, but they are not happening in reality.

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“These initiatives to try and avoid admissions happening will not fix the problem at the backdoor - we need funding in social care to get flow through hospitals.”

This comes after figures revealed over 800 patients died last year while enduring lengthy waits in A&E.

The RCEM said it was a “national tragedy” there was an estimated 818 excess deaths linked to stays of 12 hours or longer before being admitted to A&E departments in Scotland.

Dr Hunter said the solution to the problem was in tackling bed blocking, where patients were medically fit to leave hospital, but could not because there was no social care plan in place for them.

She said every A&E department in Scotland was at capacity, which meant patients were being “seen in cupboards, relatives’ rooms, they are being stacked in corridors or waiting in ambulances outside”.

There are around 2,000 patients who are bed blocking in Scotland, Dr Hunter said, and this was causing backlogs in emergency departments. “We don’t need a bigger boat, we just need a system that works,” she said.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “NHS boards received an additional £85 million this year to support reductions in A&E waiting times through a range of initiatives, including establishing specialist frailty teams in every core A&E.

“New frailty units have now opened in emergency departments across the country, with more set to launch in the coming months.

“All boards are developing or expanding frailty services, with a focus on front door assessment and seven-day coverage.

“Healthcare Improvement Scotland will shortly publish an update outlining progress made with this additional investment.

“We are seeing improvements, with the latest monthly figures showing July 2025 had the lowest number of eight and 12 hour waits for any month since September 2023.”