Dozens of Scots every day have been forced to wait more than 12 hours for treatment in accident-and-emergency departments, as the NHS crisis saw the wards record their worst ever performance.

Official figures for the first week of January showed only 77.9 per cent of patients were seen within the standard four hours, compared to a target of 95 per cent.

The total included a record 470 who had to wait more than 12 hours for care and 1,449 who were forced to endure eight-hour waits before they were admitted, transferred or discharged.

Around two-thirds of hospitals missed the treatment standard as it emerged the flu rate was four times higher than the first week of 2017. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the country’s largest health board, yesterday urged flu sufferers not to visit hospital patients.

Shona Robison, the embattled SNP Health Minister, argued that the waiting times had only deteriorated slightly from the previous week despite the latest surge in cases.

But Holyrood’s opposition parties repeated their charge that she had failed to prepare the NHS for a flu epidemic, despite warnings as long ago as September that one was imminent.

It also emerged that more than 40,000 bed days were lost in November because patients well enough to leave could not be discharged. The most common reason is the lack of a social care or care home place in the community.