NICOLA Sturgeon will deliver her route map to independence later today against a backdrop of worsening waiting times in Scotland’s A&E departments.

The First Minister’s statement to MSPs will take place just hours after official data showed the fourth consecutive weekly fall in the number of patients seen on time.

Labour accused Ms Sturgeon of taking her eye off the ball on the NHS.

“The First Minister’s attention is elsewhere,” said deputy leader Jackie Baillie.

Public Health Scotland reported that just 68.1 per cent of patients in the week ending June 19 were seen within the four-hour target, down from 69.2% the previous week.

It means the timely treatment rate is now back to where it was in the week ending April 17 when Scotland was recovering from a winter wave of Covid infections.

Labour warned the problem was being driven by a surge in the number of elderly patients unable to leave hospital because of a lack of support in the community, meaning there were fewer beds to accept patients transferred from A&E, gumming up the system.

The number of people waiting more than four hours rose last week from 8,338 to 8,568, the second highest number since comparable records begans in 2015, with the worst being 8,631 in the week to March 20.

The numbers waiting more than eight hours rose from 2,235 to 2,262, and the number waiting more than 12 hours in casualty to be treated rose from 761 to 793. 

The increases were in spite of fewer people pitching up at A&E, with attendances down from 27,037 to 26,878.

The A&E target, which has not been met nationally since July 2020, is for 95% of patients to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

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 Forth Valley, where 52.8% of patients were seen on time, although this was up from 49.7% the previous week.

In NHS Lanarkshire it was 58.8% last week, and in NHS Fife it was 63%.

Medics at Glasgow’s flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital dealt with just 42.3% of A&E patients within four hours, with staff at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh treating 49.3% in the target time.

Separate data from Public Health Scotland reported there were 540,302 days spent in hospital last year by delayed discharge patients, two-thirds of them aged 75 and over.

The average daily number of beds occupied by patients well enough to leave was 1,480 in 2021/22, up 51% from 982 in 2020/21, when Covid restrictions depressed the figure. 

Ms Sturgeon is due to set out her 'route map' to independence this afternoon but not introduce an Indyref2 Bill at Holyrood, leaving very little time to hit her target date of October 2023.

Ms Baillie said: “On the day we see A&E falling deeper in crisis and delayed discharge spiralling out of control, the First Minister’s attention is elsewhere.

“These shocking figures confirm that things in our NHS are getting worse rather than better, but the SNP have taken their eye off the ball once again.

“Soaring levels of delayed discharge are costing us millions, piling pressure on other services, and worsening patient outcomes.

“Dedicated health and care staff are working tirelessly to stop services falling into total chaos, but there is only so much they can do when there is such a dangerous vacuum in leadership.

“Patients and workers cannot keep paying the price for SNP failure – the Health Secretary must act to tackle delayed discharge and get our emergency services back to normal.”

Tory MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “The most shocking thing about these dire – and worsening – waiting-time stats is that they no longer come as a shock to us.

“But while we’ve grown used to around 30% of patients not being seen within the SNP’s target timescale, we can never simply accept that as the norm, because the stark reality is it’s leading to needless deaths. 

“That’s sadly inevitable, especially when so many patients are having to wait an intolerable 12 hours or more to be seen.

“It’s clear that Humza Yousaf’s flimsy Covid Recovery Plan simply isn’t fit for purpose because the SNP’s appalling workforce planning has left Scotland’s NHS permanently under-resourced, whatever tinkering the Health Secretary does.

“Neither patients nor exhausted frontline staff deserve this permanent crisis fuelled by a government more focused on independence than healthcare.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP added:  "Waiting times in our A&E departments are getting worse. 

"Week after week we are seeing NHS patients and staff in need of new hope, but little significant action from this SNP/Green Government to provide it. 

"Patients deserve to be seen for treatment quickly and close to home, and staff shouldn’t be constantly overwhelmed, but under the SNP that seems less likely than ever.  

"The Health Secretary must finally listen to Scottish Liberal Democrat calls for a Burnout Prevention Strategy which would give staff extra protection and make plans to create a Health and Social Care Staff Assembly, which would put staff voices at the heart of resolving this crisis."