Patients who needed hospital treatment experienced record delays in November, with more than 3,000 people stuck for eight hours or longer, despite falling attendance figures.

It was the worst set of November results since records began in 2007.

Doctors say accident and emergency departments are struggling despite mild temperatures and moderate levels of flu. Early figures for December suggest hundreds more people spent hours on trolleys waiting for hospital beds.

David Chung, vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said: “If this is happening with normal and predictable workload for this time of year, with no increased patient attendances and no increased admissions, that is a really bad sign in terms of our ability to cope.”

Data released yesterday by NHS Scotland shows