Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser says SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf can’t “remain oblivious” to the crisis in accident and emergency departments.
Mr Fraser’s call comes after recent weekly statistics which showed only 78.7% of patients across Scotland were seen within four hours of arriving at accident and emergency.
This was the third week in a row where more than a fifth of patients waited over four hours to be seen. The SNP say 95% of patients should be seen within four hours.
No mainland health board again met the 95% target, with only 89.3% of patients seen within four hours in Tayside.
This was worse than last week, and still well short of the 95% target set by SNP Ministers.
Mr Fraser, who represents the Mid Scotland and Fife region, is continuing to push for the SNP Government to back Scottish Conservative plans for an extra investment worth £600 million for the NHS, which would be specifically designed to tackle waiting times.
Commenting, Mr Fraser said: “Humza Yousaf can’t continue to remain oblivious to the crisis affecting our accident and emergency departments.
“Week after week, patients are waiting hours on end after arriving to be treated at accident and emergency in Tayside.
“SNP Ministers are failing to ensure critical waiting time targets are being met, which is completely unacceptable.”
Mr Fraser continued: “As we look to remobilise NHS services in Tayside, it is time the SNP backed Scottish Conservative plans for an extra investment of £600 million in our health service, which would be used to specifically tackle waiting times.
“We can’t continue to let down patients and our heroic frontline staff by allowing waiting times to potentially spiral out of control.”