JUST over a third of all patients presenting at the A&E at Glasgow’s flagship Queen Elizabeth Hospital were seen within the NHS’s official four-hour target last week.

Of the 1,817 patients who attended, 1,179 were forced to wait for more than four hours, 463 needed to stay for more than eight hours while 111 waited for more than 12. 

Just 35.1 per cent of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within the official timescale.

The official A&E target is 95%. 

Opposition politicians described the statistics, published by Public Health Scotland on Tuesday as "grim". 

They laid the blame at the feet of Humza Yousaf and called on Nicola Sturgeon to sack her health minister.

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Across Scotland, Just 63.1% of all patients were seen within the timescale, the second lowest level this year. 

The number of people waiting too long in the seven days to November 20 rose to 9,390, up from 9,108 the week before.

Of those, 3,013 patients spent more than 8 hours in an Emergency Department, while 1,062 patients were there for more than 12 hours.

The official A&E target has not been met nationally since July 2020.

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 47.8% of A&E patients were seen within four hours, down from 51.8%.

In NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, it was 57.3%.

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The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has previously warned that 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.

Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP, said: “These figures show our NHS is fast heading for a truly terrifying winter on Humza Yousaf’s watch.

“More and more lives are being put on the line every single week in A&E under this Health Secretary. We are still yet to hit December yet he’s presided over yet another deplorable set of stats.

“The figures for Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow are especially horrendous – the worst ever for any individual hospital with just 35.1% of patients seen within four hours.

"This is completely unacceptable and incredibly alarming for the safety of patients and staff at the hospital.

“Humza Yousaf has lost the trust of overwhelmed frontline staff and suffering patients.

"They are paying a heavy price for his ever-growing list of failures and his total inaction to get a grip of the crisis in Scotland’s A&E departments, which stem from his flimsy recovery plan.

“How much longer is it going to take Nicola Sturgeon to accept her Health Secretary has been nothing short of a disaster for our health service?

“Nicola Sturgeon must act without further delay and sack Humza Yousaf now."

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Scottish Labour Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “These figures paint a grim picture of the continual crisis that is facing patients and staff in A&Es across our country.

“Clearly, things aren’t improving despite repeated promises from the SNP that they will get a handle on this chaos.

“Staff are doing all they can but they and their patients are being failed by this Health Secretary. The abysmal figures reported from the QEUH show the intense pressure facing our hospitals, and things are only getting worse.

“We must urgently improve these figures before Humza Yousaf’s disastrous stewardship puts any more lives on the line.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "While SNP and Green ministers fixate on breaking up the UK, emergency care is in crisis. You only need to look at how far things have fallen at the QEUH super hospital in Glasgow to see the harm being caused by ministerial disinterest.

"Staff are already overwhelmed. That’s before the full impact of what everyone is now resigned to being the hardest ever winter. They can’t carry on like this and desperately need new hope."

Responding to the figures, Mr Yousaf said: “Covid continues to impact the performance of services and pandemic backlogs, Brexit-driven staff shortages, and inflation costs have all contributed to make this winter the most challenging the NHS has ever faced.

“Despite this, I am clear that A&E performance is not where it needs to be.

“Delayed discharge continues to be the single biggest factor driving up A&E waits and we are working hard to ensure people are leaving hospital without delay, freeing up vital beds for those who need them most.

“A key focus of our winter plan is on social care and actions to encourage authorities to help ease delays.

“Our £600 million winter plan will see us recruit 1,000 new NHS staff and our £50 million urgent and unscheduled care collaborative looks to drive down A&E waits through scheduled urgent appointments, hospital at home and directing people to the most appropriate care.”