SCOTLAND'S health boards are to receive a three-fold increase in funding this winter in a move to prevent a repeat of the crisis that saw accident and emergency departments overwhelmed by patients.

More than £9 million has been released across Scotland to support winter planning, triple the amount given last year and part of a three-year £50m care action plan aiming to improve the way emergency care operates across Scotland 365 days a year.

However, the British Medical ­Association (BMA) said the sum was not enough to make a huge difference, describing it as a "sticking plaster".

Health Secretary Alex Neil said important steps had been taken to improve emergency care since the crisis, when hundreds of people had to wait more than 12 hours in accident and emergency departments because of bed shortages.

More A&E consultants have been recruited and electronic systems to help manage the flow of patients through hospitals have been installed during the past nine months in an attempt to help hospitals cope with an increase in demand.

Mr Neil denied Scottish hospitals were poorly prepared to manage a surge in patient numbers similar to that experienced last winter.

He said: "I think there are one or two areas where the health boards were not as well prepared as they could and should have been, and we are going to make sure that doesn't happen again. There were some areas where the number of patients admitted [to hospital] were much higher than predicted."

The Herald has been running a campaign highlighting signs that hospitals are under increasing pressure and calling for a national review to look at what needs to be done to ensure they and community care services can cope with the ageing population.

Analysis has shown a high ­proportion of patients who needed treatment last winter were elderly people with multiple health problems, according to Mr Neil. While the levels of flu were not unusual, the minister said it seemed to hit older people ­particularly badly, with many needing to stay in hospital for treatment.

An early outbreak of the winter vomiting bug norovirus has also been blamed for the difficulties faced by hospitals.

Speaking ahead of a winter planning summit in Glasgow yesterday, Mr Neil suggested the trolley queues in A&Es were not due to a shortage of beds. Instead, he linked them to difficulties making spaces on wards by discharging well patients into the community.

But he has increased the number of beds by 20 since last winter in Fife, where acute hospital care has been centralised at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

NHS Forth Valley has a new unit to assess frail patients and NHS ­Grampian has set up a dedicated helpline GPs can use to speak to A&E consultants about patients and decide if they need to go to hospital.

Mr Neil said he was not complacent, but hoped the changes would help the health service prepare for winter.

Scottish Labour's Neil Findlay MSP, said: "I am pleased the Scottish Government has finally admitted ministers failed to listen to the advice of health experts and had not given our hard-working nurses and doctors the resources required to deal with winter pressures. Alex Neil must remain ­vigilant on support for NHS staff during the busy winter months so we avoid the unacceptable delays."

Dr Charles Saunders, deputy chairman of the BMA in Scotland, said: "It is simply not enough. Divided among 14 health boards, the resource available locally will not be sufficient to make a significant difference. Creating consultant posts is a welcome measure, but if there are no doctors to fill these positions, it is simply an empty promise."

He added it was a "sticking plaster" that would do little to "stem the tide of demand a harsh winter could create."