LABOUR has accused the SNP Scottish government of “negligence” after it emerged that soaring A&E waits could be costing thousands of lives.

The latest statistics released by Public Health Scotland (PHS) show that, in the week ending December 8, less than three in every five (59.7 per cent) patients presenting at accident and emergency departments were either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

Despite the target remaining at 95 per cent to be seen within four hours, it has only been met at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic four years ago, a failure that Scottish Labour argues is now causing deaths.