Belford Hospital met waiting time targets in 'busy week' Published duration 19 January 2018

image copyright Google image caption The number of patients seen at the Belford has been similar to busy summer tourist season levels

The accident and emergency department at the Belford Hospital in Fort William is one of Scotland's top 10 hospitals for meeting waiting time targets.

Latest figures show 95.3% of patients were seen, treated, discharged or admitted within four hours.

The figures for the first week of 2018 were collated by the information services division of NHS National Services Scotland.

Belford bosses said the week had been "incredibly busy" with patients.

The new figures show there were 170 attendances with eight people having to wait more than the four-hour target.

'Similar to summer'

The Belford has previously met Scottish government waiting time targets.

Anne Boyd-Mackay, the hospital's rural general manager, said: "It's great to see that the team has continued to perform so well.

"It's been an incredibly busy time for them.

"The high number of people we are seeing coming to A&E at the moment is similar to figures we normally see in the summer when the local population swells to around 50,000 because of holidaymakers and tourists.