Scotland's newest hospital is being offered expert help to meet accident and emergency (A&E) waiting times after new figures showed almost a quarter of patients were not being treated within the target.

The £842 million South Glasgow University Hospital treated 78.3% of people in A&E inside four hours - down from 83.2% the previous week and the worst of any hospital in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has set an interim goal of treating 95% of people in four hours in advance of meeting the full target of 98%.

Overall, Scotland's A&E units treated a total of 24,821 patients in the week ending June 7, with 92.6% of them treated within four hours - the same as the previous week.

But at the South Glasgow University Hospital - which opened its doors to patients in April - there were 378 cases where people had to wait more than four hours to be admitted, transferred or discharged.

Meanwhile, 48 had to wait more than eight hours and eight people were there for longer than 12 hours.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said it had always been expected there would be "some initial challenges" at the new hospital.

She added that the Government had agreed with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to "offer the considerable expertise in unscheduled care at our disposal" to the health board.

Ms Robison said: "The transfer of services across to the new South Glasgow Hospital has been one of the largest and most complex operations NHS Scotland has ever undertaken.

"This is one of the largest hospitals in Europe - it replaces out-of-date facilities across Scotland and it will transform the care we provide for patients.

"Given the scale of the task, the migration over to the new hospital has gone extremely smoothly with all adult and children's moves completed on schedule. The staff of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde must be commended for that.

"Planned and scheduled services are operating very well and, in some places, outperforming the rest of the country.

"Similarly, long waits in accident and emergency have reduced significantly on last year. This represents considerable progress already.

"However, performance against the four-hour target in accident and emergency has dipped and is some way off the national average.

"We always expected there to be some initial challenges around performance as staff from all three sites got used to working in their new environment, however in the interests of patients in Glasgow we have agreed with the board to offer the considerable expertise in unscheduled care at our disposal.

"I have been receiving daily updates and the unscheduled care team at the Scottish Government have been in regular contact with the board.

"This move will put in place further on-site support to help the existing teams embed their practices and take forward work to implement the six essential actions for unscheduled care."

She continued: "It is important to remember that the service moves to the new hospital are only just complete and hundreds of staff are still coming together from different hospitals and adjusting to new working arrangements as well as new layouts and processes.

"I visited the South Glasgow University Hospital earlier this month and was impressed with the enthusiasm and dedication of all the staff there - and in particular their commitment to working together to deliver the best possible outcomes for patients in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.

"This additional Scottish Government support will assist staff in making the sustainable, long-term adjustments that should see the South Glasgow University Hospital steadily improve their performance against the four-hour target and sustain the reduction in long waits we have seen."