NEARLY 2,000 A&E patients spent at least half a day in waiting rooms across Scotland in the week before Christmas — the highest weekly total ever — official figures published today reveal.

Public Health Scotland said that in week ending December 25, just 56.9 per cent of people in A&E departments were seen and then either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

The total, a slight improvement on the 55 per cent recorded the previous week, is still well below the Scottish government’s target of 95 per cent.