MISSED waiting times in Scotland’s A&E wards have fallen to their worst level in more than six years, according to new official figures.

The data showed only 76.5 per cent of people were seen within four hours in the week ending August 8, down from 78.7% the previous week, which was itself the worst figure since the start of the Covid pandemic.

The new number is the lowest since at least February 2015, the start of the current weekly time series issued by Public Health Scotland.

It means more than a fifth of casualty patients have had to wait more than four hours for the last month.

The target is for 95% of patients to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

Opposition parties have demanded health secretary Humza Yousaf wake up to the "crisis" in emergency services.

The Liberal Democrats said it showed the NHS was "on its knees" under the SNP.

The Scottish Government said the problem was caused by more people attending A&E with serious illnesses who required higher levels of care, staff pressures, and Covid-related infection control measures.

The new figures also showed an increase in particularly lengthy waits, with the number of patients waiting more eight hours up from 861 to 981 last week, and the number waiting more than 12 hours increasing from 182 to 254.

The decline in standards was inspite of a slight fall in A&E attendances across Scotland, down from 25,662 to 25,582. 

Just over 6,000 people waited more than four hours in A&E last week, up more than 500 in a week. 

New statistics published today show that more people than ever are waiting more than four hours to be seen and processed in Scotland’s A&E departments.

Scottish LibDem health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Staff are doing their best to cope with the onslaught of Covid pressures and the ever increasing backlog, but let’s be clear. The NHS is on its knees.

“This isn’t new news for the Scottish Government. The pressures have been building for months. But the Health Secretary has been dawdling on an NHS Recovery plan.

"As these statistics show, every day without a strategy to cope means more people waiting longer, in pain and distress.

“The NHS Recovery Plan needs to be published immediately, and accompanied with an instant funding boost. One way or another, our frontline need more support.”

Tory MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane, the shadow minister for public health, said: “My hospital colleagues are struggling to cope with the enormous demands placed on them.

“Our NHS urgently needs a solid remobilisation plan to tackle the backlogs that were present before Covid struck, which are now spiralling out of control.

“This is now a fully-fledged crisis. A&E statistics have plummeted to their worst level in six years - but the SNP Government seem to think nothing is wrong.

“Humza Yousaf has to start listening to NHS staff. A summer of inaction and delay is harming frontline services.

“He must now recognise the need for a taskforce led by frontline clinicians with the sole remit of reducing waiting times. Our plans would ease the pressure on A&E services and help Scotland’s NHS recover from the impact of the pandemic.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader and health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said the "shocking" figures "laid bare the disaster that is unfolding in our A&E services".

She said: "Thousands of lives are at risk and the government is nowhere to be seen.

“For months now Humza Yousaf has had his fingers in his ears. Simply saying ‘crisis, what crisis?’ will not cut it.

“The SNP needs to get its act together, start listening to frontline staff and patients, and re-mobilise the NHS so that people do not have to end up at the front door of A&E.

“It’s time for the Minister to wake up and act before further lives are put at risk.”

Mr Yousaf said Scotland's emergency times were still better than those in England.

He said: “Scotland’s core A&E departments have outperformed those in the rest of the UK for more than six years.

"Our NHS staff have faced unprecedented pressures over recent weeks.

"They work tirelessly and consistently to respond to the pandemic whilst continuing to provide vital treatment and optimal patient care. We are in daily contact with every Board and are monitoring the situation closely.

“Hospitals are reporting increased levels of people attending A&E who are much sicker and require higher levels of care.

Weekly performance is impacted due to a range of challenges including high attendances, staffing pressures due to isolation and annual leave and the continued requirement for infection control precautions that is affecting the time people need to spend in A&E.

“To minimise pressures, in June we committed £12 million in additional funding to health boards across Scotland to support non-COVID emergency care.

"The boards are in the process of recruiting additional staff with this funding and we expect to see an impact of our rapid action in the coming weeks. 

"Boosting staffing levels will help put measures in place to reduce waiting times for urgent or emergency treatment and increase available beds.”