Scotland’s worst ever A&E waiting times were recorded in December as the NHS was plunged into crisis due to clogged-up hospitals, it emerged yesterday.

Monthly figures showed just 62.1 per cent of patients were seen within four hours – meaning more than one in three were forced to hang on for longer.

The previous worst was 67.5 per cent in November, and the December level comes after a slump over the past two years – despite attendances being well below record levels.

The long waits – which experts warn are killing hundreds of people – are being fuelled by high levels of delayed discharges, with the end of 2022 seeing 1,878 beds occupied per day due a lack of appropriate social care to send patients onto.

This is just below the record of 1,950 the previous month.

The latest stats sparked fresh calls for Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to be sacked.

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