NEARLY 4000 patients spent over 12 hours in A&E in June as waiting times remained stubbornly high.
The latest monthly update shows that 3,937 people waited over 12 hours in Scotland's emergency departments - the second highest number on record.
These are mostly patients who require admission but are delayed in A&E due to a shortage of available hospital beds.
The figure compares to 214 in June 2019.
Around a quarter (23.3%) of A&E attendances in June resulted in a hospital admission.
Research has shown that the longer a patient is delayed in A&E, the higher the probability of an avoidable death within 30 days of admission.
The national target is that 95 per cent of A&E attendances should wait no longer than four hours to be treated and subsequently discharged, transferred or admitted.
That was last achieved in 2020, when A&E attendances plunged during the height of the pandemic.
In June, only 71.3% of patients were dealt with within the four hour timescale.
It comes as the latest weekly data for the week ending July 24 shows that compliance with the four-hour A&E standard had fallen to 65%, with 1,064 people attending A&E spending over 12 hours in the emergency department.
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