Ayrshire patients' lives are being put at risk by "chaotic scenes" in one of the region's hospitals, claims an MSP.
Now one politician has warned worse is to come with winter approaching.
Sharon Dowey, Conservative MSP for South Scotland, said: "Crosshouse Hospital is facing an ever-increasing crisis and it is suffering patients and hardworking staff who are paying the price.
"It is absolutely appalling that over a dozen ambulances were lined up outside the hospital due to the overwhelming pressures inside.
"Scenes like this are a direct consequence of SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf’s continued inaction and failure to get a grip on this crisis engulfing hospitals like Crosshouse.
"Patients' lives are being put at risk as a result of these excessive delays.
"My thoughts go to the patients and staff caught up in these chaotic scenes which will only worsen as winter hits unless Humza Yousaf belatedly gets a grip."
Yesterday's scenes followed a string of incidents reported at Crosshouse in recent weeks, where patients have endured increasingly long waits to find beds at the under-pressure hospital.
Bosses at NHS & Arran were forced to issue an "unreserved apology" for the latest incident.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said today: “The pandemic has been the biggest challenge the NHS has faced in its 74-year existence and has heaped pressure on our ambulance service and wider NHS.
“Despite the challenges, including serving some of the most rural areas in the UK, our ambulance crews continue to respond to over 99 per cent of their highest priority calls in under 30 minutes.
“Our increased investment has seen record recruitment of 540 additional ambulance staff in 2021/22 with further recruitment underway this year and we are recruiting 1,000 new NHS staff, including 750 frontline nurses from overseas to support the healthcare system this winter.
“We continue to work with SAS and Health Boards across Scotland on improvement work to reduce delays for ambulance crews including the use of liaison officers within hospitals which helps improve patients’ experiences and minimise waiting times.”
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