PATIENTS are waiting longer than ever for emergency treatment at Scotland's new super-hospital.

Waiting times fell to an all time low as one in four patients attending A&E at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow during the week ending December 11 spent more than four hours waiting to be seen and subsequently admitted, transferred or discharged.

The hospital achieved a 75.9 per cent compliance score against the Scottish Government's four-hour target, the lowest since it opened in May 2015 and worst of any of Scotland's major emergency departments.

It was Scotland's second busiest emergency department during the period from December 5 to 11 with a total of 1,787 attendances, meaning that around 430 patients waited longer than four hours.

The figure includes 41 patients who waited more than eight hours and one patient who waited more than 12 hours, although NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said "most of the remaining patients were seen and treated within six hours".

In a statement the health board apologised to patients affected by the delays and acknowledged that the latest performance was "disappointing".

It said: "Whilst our performance was less than ideal, we would wish to offer reassurance that patient safety was not compromised and that patients who unfortunately had to wait longer to complete their assessment were clinically able to do so."

NHS GGC added that it was in the process of conducting "a ‘root and branch’ review of unscheduled care" led by deputy medical director Dr David Stewart which would help to "tackle bottlenecks and deliver improvements".

It said would invest £1.6 million of winter resilience funding from the Scottish Government on additional staff at the Queen Elizabeth "to help patient flow through the emergency department and hospital wards".

The hospital struggled to meet A&E turnaround times immediately after it opened and in June 2015 the Scottish Government dispatched an expert team to help the unit drive down waiting times, temporarily raising performance to more than 90 per cent.

However, by October 2015 it had dipped back to 77.2 per cent and it has only achieved the Scottish Government target of 95 per cent compliance during one week in 2016.

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, said: “The warning signs were there. Scottish Liberal Democrats highlighted the fact performance was falling at the so-called hospital two months ago.

“With performance continuing to plummet, SNP ministers must urgently establish what is now needed. Their experts have already been in and out, in and out of the QEUH. What will they do differently this time to support doctors and nurses and turn this around?

“Patients can’t be expected to tolerate long waits to be seen this winter.”

Health Secretary Shona Robison stressed that nine in 10 patients across Scotland had been seen and treated within the four-hour window.

She added: "We are monitoring A&E performance closely to ensure no-one is waiting longer than absolutely necessary in our emergency departments.

"This week has been particularly challenging for some of our hospitals with demand increasing by over 5 per cent compared to the same week last year - over 1,200 more patients.

"This increase in demand has affected waiting-times in some areas of the country and we are working particularly closely with those health boards affected to identify and implement immediate solutions."