PERFORMANCE times in Scotland’s A&E units have fallen to a new record low, with almost two in five  patients waiting too long for treatment.

Figures from Public Health Scotland show just 63.1 per cent of people attending A&E last week were seen within the official four-hour target, down from 65% the previous week.

It is the lowest figure since comparable records began in February 2015.

The previous record low was 63.6% of patients seen on time in the week to September 11.

Labour urged Nicola Sturgeon to sack health secretary Humza Yousaf as the NHS enters its over-stretched winter season.

The fall in performance times coincided with a sharp rise in attendances, from 24,211 to 26,052.

The number of patients enduring extreme waits in emergency departments also rose last week, hovering just below previous record levels.

The number of patients waiting more than eight hours to be treated rose from 3,072 to 3,393, while the number waiting more than 12 hours rose from 1,391 to 1,447.

Overall, the number waiting more than four hours rose from 8,473 to 9,617, just shy of the September 11 record of 9,921.

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 it has been for some time - was NHS Forth Valley, where the priority given to elective surgery has affected A&E performance, and where just 42.7% of A&E patients were seen within four hours last week.

In NHS Lanarkshire it was 49.1% and in NHS Fife it was 60.2%.

Both Scotland’s flagship hospitals are under strain, with only 42.3% of patients attending the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Gloasgow seen within four hours, whilst 44.9% were seen on time at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

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.

Tory MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Just when you think Humza Yousaf’s catastrophic stewardship of the NHS can’t get any worse, fresh stats come out to prove you wrong.

“These latest record-low A&E figures are deplorable – and yet there is fresh evidence this morning that the official figures are unreliable and actually underestimate the scale of the crisis.

“What isn’t in doubt is that thousands of patients across Scotland continue to suffer unacceptable waits at our emergency departments – patients that could easily be you or your loved ones – and needless deaths will have occurred as a result.

“Patients at A&E are terrified – and so are over-stretched and dedicated frontline staff, who know that things will only get worse as winter pressures mount.

“Humza Yousaf needs to stop wringing his hands and start actually tackling these shameful waiting times, if we are to have any hope of averting disaster in our NHS this winter.”

Scottish Labour deputy Jackie Baillie said: "The SNP’s race to the bottom must be stopped before things get any worse for our A&E departments.

“For months Scottish Labour has been calling on the Scottish Government to get a handle on this crisis, and yet we are continually left with record-breaking failures and nothing but empty words and endless excuses from this hopeless Health Secretary.

"As the real winter crisis approaches, staff are on their knees with exhaustion and they cannot be left to face this crisis alone. Patients are going to have worse health outcomes or even die as a result of not being seen quickly.

“Scots will be wondering why, as the evidence builds, the First Minister seems to turn a blind eye to Humza Yousaf’s failures.  

“It is time for the First Minister to sack her failing Health Secretary and put patients’ needs first.” 

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "Another week, another record low recorded in our A&E departments. More people waiting in A&E departments means more avoidable deaths, it really is as simple as that.

"The danger this presents for patients and staff alike shows an unforgiveable lack of focus on the part of our SNP/Green government.

"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 Scottish Lib Dems have been proposing for months on end: a Burnout Prevention Strategy to protect staff and a Health and Social Care Staff Assembly to put their expertise at the heart of the response to this crisis.”