Opposition parties said the waiting times faced by patients “makes a mockery of John Swinney’s claim that the health service is improving”.
A&E departments in Scots hospitals are in “meltdown” after waiting times reached their worst ever level for the month of November.
Data from Public Health Scotland shows that in November last year, 45,719 people waited more than four hours in an A&E ward.
This includes 17,745 patients who were there for a minimum of eight hours, while 8,287 patients were there for 12 hours or more.
About two-thirds of patients in A&E were seen and then either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours – the same proportion as the previous month but well below the Scottish Government target of 95 per cent.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour health spokeswoman, said: “The chaos in A&E is putting lives at risk day in day out and piling pressure on hardworking NHS staff, but the SNP has given up on fixing this crisis.
“We have had years of warm words and empty promises from a succession of Health Secretaries and First Ministers, but more than 8,000 people were left languishing in a waiting room for more than half a day in November.
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“Our NHS may not survive a third decade of SNP mismanagement – but this May we have a chance to elect a Scottish Labour government that will make our NHS fit for the future and ensure Scots can get the urgent care they need.”
Dr Sandesh Gulhane, Scottish Conservative health spokesman, said: “These atrocious statistics prove that our NHS was in meltdown under the SNP even before the height of winter.
“This was the worst November on record in Scotland’s A&E wards, with thousands of patients waiting more than 12 hours. It makes a mockery of John Swinney’s claim that the health service is improving.
“We know that these horrific delays cost lives. Frontline staff are working tirelessly for their patients but they’ve been left firefighting because of the SNP’s dire workforce planning.”
Hitting out at the First Minister – who made a pre-election speech on Scottish independence on Monday – Dr Gulhane said: “John Swinney should be throwing the kitchen sink at this crisis. Instead, he spent Monday banging on about independence yet again.”
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