GLASGOW'S health board has apologised after dozens of patients waited up to 12-hours to be seen by emergency doctors over the festive period.

Just over 63% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in the week between Christmas and New Year, falling well short of the 95% target.

Only one other hospital fared worse that the QEUH - Forth Valley Royal, where 57% were seen within the target time.

Scotland’s NHS recorded its worst A&E performance since weekly reporting got underway with 78% seen within the target.

A total of 94 patients waited more than 12 hours to be seen across NHSGGC including Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and 460 were kept waiting for eight hours.

Earlier this week the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon apologised to patients who had faced lengthy waits, saying the health service had faced “exceptional pressures.” as admissions soared for flu, trips and slips and other winter-related illness.

However, opposition politicians seized on the figures including Scottish Labour who accused the government of employing “sticking plaster” solutions.

Adam Tomkins, Scottish Conservative MSP for Glasgow, said the lengthy A&E waiting times had been, an “avoidable crisis.”

At Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 66.3% of patients were seen within the target.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde saw a total of 6712 patients and of those, 71.1% (4770) were seen within four hours. The Scottish average was 78%.

Figures for the same period last year show there were 6488 attendances and 5677 met the four-hour target.

Only two patients waited for 12 hours.

The Scottish Ambulance Service reported an almost 40% increase in the number of calls on Hogmanay alone while NHS 24 received more than 45,000 calls in the four days over Christmas - almost double the number in the same period last year.

Dr Dan Beckett, Scottish representative of the Society for Acute Medicine, said hospitals were seeing numbers of patients requiring admission, "at a scale we haven’t seen for several years."

Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Patients and staff will be hoping that these figures shatter the SNP government’s complacency when it comes to tackling the challenges facing our health service.”

Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “The A&E figures for the festive period are some of the worst in memory.

“No wonder Nicola Sturgeon felt the need to apologise, but it will be a hollow apology without meaningful action.

“The health service needs more than sticking-plaster solutions. It needs a plan for long term real change.”

A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: "Due to the high level of demand, a number of our patients have waited longer than we would have liked to be seen, diagnosed, treated and either admitted or discharged and we apologise to those patients who experienced lengthy waits."