Deaths among patients known to have spent over four hours in emergency departments have more than doubled in the past five years.
Figures released under freedom of information show that at least 743 people died last year within 24 hours of an A&E wait which had breached the four hour target time.
This was up from 281 in 2018.
The true figures will be higher, however, as a number of major health boards - including Grampian, Lanarkshire, Highland, and Ayrshire and Arran - were unable to provide data. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has not responded.
The requests were submitted by the Scottish Conservatives.
READ MORE: A&E delays and excess deaths - is this the new normal?
Overall, the responses show that nearly 2000 patients died between 2018 and 2022 after spending more than four hours in emergency departments.
More than half of these deaths - 1,181 - occurred in NHS Lothian, which has some of Scotland busiest A&E departments.
These cases include patients who died in A&E departments having already waited over four hours, as well as patients who died on hospital wards or in the community up to 24 hours after an emergency department stay in excess of four hours.
The deaths were not necessarily avoidable, but research shows that A&E delays are associated with increased risk of death within 30 days.
Research by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has previously estimated that there were 765 excess deaths in Scotland during 2022 as a result of people waiting eight to 12 hours in A&E.
The four hour target stipulates that 95% of people attending A&E should be seen, treated, and subsequently discharged, admitted onto a ward or transferred to another hospital within four hours, but the latest statistics - for June 2023 - show that this was being achieved for just 72.6% of attendances.
The bottlenecks have spiralled over the past five years.
READ MORE: The truth about Scotland-England A&E comparisons
In June 2018, there were 146,639 attendances at A&E departments in Scotland, of which 10,547 people (7%) waited over four hours and 115 remained in the department for over 12 hours.
In June this year, attendances were lower - 137,138 - but 37,546 of people (27%) spent over four hours in A&E and 3,028 spent over 12 hours.
The main cause of delays are a lack of available beds on hospital wards, meaning A&E patients requiring admission for treatment become stuck.
The situation has been worsened partly by a lack of social care in the community, meaning patients who are ready to be discharged home "block" beds which could otherwise be freed up.
However, the FOI data also indicates that the number of patients actually dying whilst in A&E departments appears to be roughly stable, or falling.
In NHS Lothian, the total number of patients dying in emergency departments - regardless of how long they had been there - fell from 233 in 2018 to 94 in 2022.
In Forth Valley, deaths in A&E have been stable at 121 in 2018 and 126 in 2022.
READ MORE: Scotland's overcrowded A&E conditions 'like Russian roulette'
Dr Sandesh Gulhane, the Scottish Conservative health spokesman, said the NHS had become "permanently overwhelmed".
He said: “Dire workforce planning by successive SNP health secretaries has had a devastating impact on Scotland’s health service, and despite the best efforts of my dedicated colleagues on the frontline, our A&E departments are bearing the brunt of these failings.”
Dr John-Paul Loughrey, RCEM Vice President for Scotland, said: "While it would be wrong to conclude that all those people died directly because of the time they waited, long stays and extreme delays are shown to be associated with excess mortality.
“Deaths linked to excessive waits are the very human cost of overcrowded A&Es, staffed by dedicated but over-run clinicians who themselves have to deal with the effects of working in such difficult circumstances.”
READ MORE: Tayside and Forth Valley - Why are their A&E performances so far apart?
A Scottish Government spokesman said performance against the four-hour A&E target had improved in June, for the third consecutive month.
He added: “We fully recognise that longer waits in A&E are detrimental to patient outcomes which is why we remain committed to delivering improved A&E performance.
“Performance against the four-hour target has stabilised.
"However, we know performance is still not where it needs to be and we are working closely with the health boards facing the greatest challenges in A&E, to drive down waiting times and improve services for patients and staff.”
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