There has been a sharp rise in patients waiting longer than the legal guarantee for treatment in Glasgow hospitals, according to official figures.

NHS statistics show in September this year 978 people were waiting for longer than the 12-week guarantee period.

The figure at the beginning of the year was just 31.

Labour blamed the Scottish Government, claiming the NHS was being put on hold as the SNP focuses on a second referendum.

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Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Labour leader, challenged First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the issue at Holyrood and said there were 53,000 patients across Scotland who have missed out on the guarantee.

Until June last year the Glasgow figures for each three-month period had been in single figures since the guarantee was introduced in 2012.

The figure was 31 from January to March this year, then increased to 214 for the following three months. The latest figures, showing that 978 people have been waiting longer than the 12-weel guarantee, are for July to September.

Speaking about figures for the country as a whole, Ms Dugdale said: “That is a legal guarantee to 53,000 people broken. In fact, the past few months have been the worst on record, and these are not just statistics.

“They are pensioners in need of a knee replacement having to wait for months, or people waiting for eye surgery facing delay after delay. Each time I bring an individual case to the chamber, the First Minister promises to deal with it.

“It would take me centuries to work through each of those 53,000 cases. How bad do things have to get before she steps in to fix this mess?”

Ms Sturgeon vigorously defended her government’s record on the NHS since taking power in 2007.

She said: “It is worth pointing out that when this government took office, only 85 per cent of patients were being treated within 18 weeks.

“Not only have we reduced waiting times from 18 weeks to 12 weeks, a higher percentage of patients are now being seen within that shorter waiting time. That is the progress that we are making.”

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A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “The vast majority of our patients are seen and treated within their guaranteed time of 12 weeks. Unfortunately a number of patients in certain specialties, including urology, orthopaedics and neurology, have waited longer than we would like and we apologise for this.

“The board has put a number of measures in place to alleviate this and we are working with