SCOTLAND'S hospitals failed to meet emergency waiting time targets over Christmas and New Year - falling more than nine percentage points below target.

Accident and emergency departments saw just 88.8 per cent of patients within four hours between December 22 and January 4, compared to the Scottish Government target of 98 per cent.

Just two health boards managed to meet the goal, Tayside and the Western Isles, while the worst performers were Greater Glasgow & Clyde (82.6 per cent) and Forth Valley (83.1 per cent).

The figures also reflected a drop of four percentage points on the same period the previous year.

In its press release, the Government highlighted a comparison with England, where 82.8 per cent of A&E patients were seen within four weeks.

But Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: "Waiting times results of 88.8 per cent are hardly worth celebrating, as the Scottish Government seems to want to.

"That's a significant drop on last year and the SNP can hardly blame the winter weather - casualty waiting times have been repeatedly bad through all climates under its watch."

The figures cover the four-week period to January 4 but this week appears to have seen an escalation of the crisis, with operations being cancelled because of a shortage of hospital beds in some health board areas.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Scotland voiced concern that it "misses the point" if the number of surgeries which were postponed helped lead to Scotland's better performance when compared with England.

Theresa Fyffe, RCN Scotland Director, said: "I don't think that 88.8% of patients being seen within four hours will be much comfort to people waiting for cancer surgery or hip replacements.

"And what about those people who have been transferred on from A&E within the four hour target but are now lying in a bed in the wrong ward?"

Health Secretary Shona Robison said this year's Christmas period was "particularly challenging" for the NHS.

"It is clear we must improve our performance - both in winter and year round", she said. "Which is why we'll go on increasing investment, improving systems and protecting staffing levels."

The figures came as A&E consultant Dr Barry Klaassen hit out at "ludicrous" patient referral procedures which he claims are contributing to delays in patient care.

The medic, who works at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, claims better planning and procedures could help to limit the pressure on emergency departments and provide better patient care.

He said: "There are things that happen across Scotland which actually increase the pressure on A&E departments, for example a GP seeing someone and sending them straight to A&E instead of to the relevant ward.

"That's just ludicrous and straight away it causes a backlog. Tayside GPs send them directly to the ward."

Dr Klaassen added: "Christmas and New Year is always a busy time for emergency departments and this year there seems to have been unprecedented reports that A&Es are in crisis.

"We've basically been busy as usual in Tayside but we've actually met our targets and, as an emergency department in a major city, we've consistently met those targets over the last number of years.

"That's because we have systems in process that actually prevent overcrowding in the emergency department and allow good patient flow."

He claimed that those systems include nurses notifying wards straight away if they think a patient is likely to be admitted, rather than waiting until they have been treated in the emergency department.

Senior clinicians can also redirect patients with minor ailments to other treatment services.

"However, it's all very well for A+E to put measures in place for patient flow, but these measures also have to be in place in other wards," he said.

"It's all part of a big jigsaw that has to be pieced together effectively."