The proportion of patients seen on time by Scotland’s A&E units fell to its third worst level on record last week, despite fewer people seeking help.
Public Health Scotland reported 68 per cent of people attending a casualty department were seen within the official four-hour target in the week ending April 3.
This was in spite of attendances falling from 25,264 to 24,575 as health boards warned people not to show up unless it was an emergency because of Covid-related pressures.
Opposition parties said A&E was in "permanent crisis" under the SNP.
The decline in performance followed a slight improvement the week before, when 68.4% of patients were seen on time, up from an all-time low of 66.2% in the week to March 20.
The only other time the number has been below 68% was in the week to January 9, when it was 67.3%.
The figures on extreme waits also improved last week, with the number of patients waiting more than four hours falling from 7,973 to 7,867.
The number of people waiting more than eight hours for treatment fell from 2,627 to 2,483, and the number waiting more than 12 hours fell from 1,022 to 955.
However the previous week’s numbers were the worst since comparable records began in early 2015, so the new numbers are still some of the worst in recent memory.
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 Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned the significant delays are harming or killing more than 30 patients a week.
The worst performing health board last week was NHS Lanarkshire, where only 54% of patients were seen on time, followed by NHS Borders on 54.6% and NHS Grampian and NHS Lothian both on 64.1%
Tory MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Sadly, it’s like Groundhog Day with these atrocious A&E stats - every week they seem to get worse and yet nothing seems to change.
“It’s totally unacceptable that almost a third of patients are having to wait four hours or more to be seen.
“The Health Secretary can’t continue to rely on his woefully-inadequate Covid Recovery Plan when this spiralling crisis is causing ever more lives to be needlessly lost despite the heroic efforts of overwhelmed NHS staff.
“The Royal College of Emergency Medicine could not have been clearer last week when they spelled out how dangerous and unsustainable the situation is on Scotland’s A&E wards.
"They, and the public, are crying out for an action plan from Humza Yousaf now - but his silence is deafening.”
Scottish Labour deputy Jackie Baillie said: “Week after week emergency rooms across Scotland are in chaos despite the tireless work of NHS staff, who are being forced to go above and beyond to make up for SNP failure.
“A&E is getting stuck in a state of permanent crisis – it is not good enough.
“We desperately need real leadership from the government, but the Health Secretary spends more time commenting on the crisis than fixing it.
“We need urgent action to end delayed discharge and increase the number of hospital beds which will help to get A&E back on its feet and save lives.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "We've seen nearly a month of near record lows in A&E.
"Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon have sat by and allowed this crisis to reach its most dangerous time yet.
"This SNP/Green government would much rather waste taxpayers' money pursuing another independence referendum than take decisive action to solve this crisis.
“A&E targets were already missed for years pre-pandemic because of poor workforce planning and SNP mismanagement.
"Staff are more frustrated than anyone because they have been sounding the alarm. They have been working hard for months and have nothing more to give.
“NHS patients and staff are in dire need of new hope.
"We urgently need new resources and a renewed focus from the Health Secretary.
"Patients and staff also deserve answers as to how this crisis has been allowed to continue for so long, we must have an inquiry into all avoidable deaths connected to this crisis.”
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