Monthly A&E statistics at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley have hit their worst level ever as less than half (47 percent) of attendees were seen and admitted, transferred, or discharged within the four-hour standard.

During December 2022, a shocking 1106 patients were forced to wait more than eight hours in A&E and a further 414 were stuck at the Paisley hospital’s emergency department for more than half a day before being admitted, transferred, or discharged.

Some 2379 people waited more than the four hours standard in emergency departments in that single month.

This comes as delayed discharge levels remain far too high across Scotland with the average number of beds occupied per day due to delayed discharge hitting 1,878, which is a 28.2 percent increase compared to December 2019.

The number of cancelled operations due to some health boards pausing elective surgery is also on the rise and is expected to spike even more as the pressures on the NHS continue.

Dumbarton constituency MSP Jackie Baillie said: “Humza Yousaf has had months to get a grip on the crisis in our A&E, yet he continues to let staff and patients down.

“He knew the pressures the NHS would face over winter, but he has spectacularly failed to support frontline staff bearing the brunt of this crisis.

“This has resulted in chaos in our A&E departments, with hospitals left playing catch up because of poor planning from the Scottish Government. The emergency department at the RAH has been one of the worst affected in the country meaning people from Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond are being impacted.

“To top it all off, the SNP government are still dragging their feet on delayed discharge and are overseeing a rise in cancelled operations as the pressures on the NHS prevent forward planning.

“The SNP have presided over this mess for long enough. We need a clear, comprehensive plan for fixing the chaos in A&E, we need to end delayed discharge once and for all, and we need to get scheduled operations back on track.”