WAITING time performance in Scotland’s A&E units hit a new record low in September, with just 69 per cent of patients treated within the four-hour target.

The official figures also showed the number of patients enduring extreme waits has risen around 10-fold since the Covid pandemic.

In September 2019, the number of patients waiting more than eight hours for treatment was 1,618 (1.1%) and more than 12 hours was 369 (0.3%).

In September this year, the figures were 13,506 (10.6%) and 5,296 (4.2%) respectively.

September also saw new record highs in the number of delayed discharge patients stuck in hospital, adding to the delays in A&E.

The Tories said SNP health Secretary Humza Yousaf had allowed a “full-blown crisis” to develop on his watch.

The monthly figures - the worst since the SNP came to power in 2007 - emerged as other data showed A&E performance slipping last week. 

Figures from Public Health Scotland showed only 65 percent of people were seen within the four-hour target in emergency departments in the seven days to October 23, down from 65.3% the week before.

Although the overall number of patients waiting more than four hours dropped slightly from 8,638 to, 8473, the number waiting more than eight hours rose from 3,056 to 3,072.

The number waiting more than 12 hours also rose, from 1,355 to 1,391.

When the SNP took office, an average 96.6% of patients were seen on time each month.

In September, 69% of patients were seen within four hours, down from 69.6% in August.

The official 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 figure has been below 70% in Scotland since the week ending May 22

The worst performing health board last week - as in most recent weeks - was NHS Forth Valley, where 38% of patients were seen on time.

In NHS Lanarkshire it was 53.1% and in NHS Grampian it was 56.7%.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned long delays are harming or killing more than 30 patients a week. 

A key factor is a lack of social care places leading to the delayed discharge of patients medically fit enough to leave hospital.

This creates an overall shortage of beds, making it harder to advance patients through A&E.

Other figures out today showed record levels of delayed discharge patients occupying beds in September - people medically fit to leave hospital but who cannot leave because of other issues, principally a lack of a suitable care package at home or a care home.

On average, 1,832 beds were occupied each day by delayed discharges in September, up 2% on August, and the highest since comparable records began in July 2016.

In total, there were 54,960 days spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed, up 13% on September 2021’s 48,436, although down slightly on August 2022.

At the September census point, there were 1,885 people delayed, up 8% on August, with the average length of delay 23 days in both months.

Tory MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Under Humza Yousaf’s chronic mismanagement, A&E monthly waiting times were the worst on record in September – so winter scarcely bears thinking about.

“It is utterly appalling. Patients are often scared, distressed and in pain, while my colleagues on the front line are often having to treat them in trolleys and corridors.

“Dedicated NHS staff are doing everything they can to hold it together, but the reality is that some patients are dying as a result of these intolerable delays. Humza Yousaf’s incompetence is quite literally costing lives.

“This is now a full-blown crisis that requires immediate action. If the Health Secretary can’t get a grip on this shameful state of affairs, then Nicola Sturgeon must personally step in and decide whether he is up to job.”

Scottish Labour deputy Jackie Baillie said: “Record-breaking Humza Yousaf has once again let our NHS reach new lows, despite the tireless efforts of its incredible staff.

“A&E is in unprecedented chaos and lives are being put at risk every single week.

“Delayed discharge has soared to record levels, piling pressure even more on hospitals and waiting rooms and leaving patients needlessly stranded.

“1 in 7 Scots are stuck on a waiting list and things are set to get worse rather than better as the number of operations taking place plummets.

“Patients and staff are being badly let down by a Health Secretary painfully out of his depth. Humza Yousaf is the worst Health Secretary since the start of devolution and he is simply not up to the job.

“Scots need an NHS that works – if Humza Yousaf can’t deliver that, he needs to get his jotters and go.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "Month after month we have seen records broken in our A&E departments.

"This means more people are waiting for longer and that there will have been more avoidable deaths. This is the toll that ministerial disinterest is taking on our NHS.

"My party has been proposing solutions to relieve the pressure on our NHS staff and patients for months, but Humza Yousaf just isn't interested.

"The Health Secretary must drop his opposition to an urgent inquiry into the avoidable deaths linked to the crisis in emergency care.

"He must also adopt the solutions the Lib Dems have been proposing for months on end: a Burnout Prevention Strategy, which would give staff extra protection, and a Health and Social Care Staff Assembly to put their expertise at the heart of the response to this crisis.”