Performance times in Scotland’s A&E waits have fallen to a two-month low, raising fears about longer and grimmer waits for patients as winter sets in.
New official figures from Public Health Scotland show more than a third of patients waited too long to be seen in emergency departments last week.
Only 66% of those attending A&E in the week to October 15 were seen within the four-hour target, down from 66.5% a week earlier.
It was the lowest figure since 65.5% in the week to August 13.
Across Scotland, the number of patients waiting more than four hours increased from 8,528 to 8,682.
The numbers of patients enduring extreme waits also rose.
Those waiting more than eight hours rose from 2,622 to 2,830 (up from 10.3% to 11.1% of patients), while those waiting 12 hours or more rose from 991 to 1,046 (3.9 to 4.1%).
The number of attendances rose marginally from 25,493 to 25,542.
The target is for 95% of patients to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
It has not been met nationally since July 2020.
The worst performing health board last week was NHS Forth Valley, where 44% of patients were seen on time, followed by NHS Grampian (60.9%) and NHS Lothian (61.3%) .
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has calculated there will be an excess death for every 1 in 72 patients who spend between eight and 12 hours in an A&E.
Tory MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Our A&E departments are lurching into an ever deepening crisis as each week passes on the SNP’s watch.
“Successive SNP health secretaries – including Humza Yousaf – have failed to get a grip of this situation for far too long.
“His successor Michael Matheson has done nothing to change that, meaning my colleagues on the frontline are now bracing themselves for their worst winter ever.
“As we rapidly head towards that period, it is now the shocking norm that a third of patients wait over four hours to be seen at A&E, while over 1,000 patients this week shamefully had to wait over half a day to be seen.
“These delays means more and more patients’ lives are needlessly being put at risk.”
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