A total of 472 patients at hospital A&E departments in NHS Ayrshire & Arran waited more than four hours before being either discharged, transferred or admitted, new figures show.
The figures, from Public Health Scotland, chart the week ending Sunday, May 8 and paint another gloomy picture for the region.
Another 214 patients waited more than eight hours, while 130 poor souls had to endure more than 12-hour waits.
Only 73.3 per cent of patients were seen within the Scottish Government’s four-hour standard.
But the Scottish Government target demands that 95 per cent should be seen within the four-hour timeframe.
Fuming MSPs have rounded on health secretary Humza Yousaf, on his first anniversary in the post, and told him to ramp up NHS recruitment.
South Scotland Conservative MSP Sharon Dowey said: “Humza Yousaf has been our health secretary now for a whole year, and yet nothing has improved with A&E waiting times.
“The health secretary has to ramp up recruitment in NHS Ayrshire & Arran if we are to see these waiting times get any better for patients.”
Jamie Greene, West Scotland Conservative MSP, said: “Too many patients are waiting far too long to be seen in A&E and the situation is just going from bad to worse.
“If Humza Yousaf is thinking of celebrating his one year anniversary in the role he should think again and turn his efforts to the patients who desperately need his help instead.”
But SNP MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Elena Whitham, said the Scottish Government had invested £300 million to cope with winter pressures and recruited “record numbers” in the ambulance service over the past financial year to try and recover from the pressures of the pandemic.
She said: “Only last month, 1,000 additional healthcare support staff and almost 200 registered nurses from overseas were recruited to help address the unprecedented challenges facing the NHS.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said they had invested a record £18bn in health and social care this financial year and recruited record numbers of staff working in the NHS, adding: “Despite the challenges, Scotland has the best performing A&E departments in the UK, having outperformed those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for more than six years.”
But Labour MSP for South Scotland, Carol Mochan, said waiting times were a “serious concern” for people across Ayrshire and Arran, adding: “It is clear that the investment required to recruit and train new staff is simply not being put in by the Scottish Government and vital funds are being wasted elsewhere that should be put towards frontline staff.”
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