ACCIDENT and emergency performance has improved for the third week in a row, according to the latest NHS Scotland figures.

More than three-quarters of patients (75.2%) were seen within four hours of arriving at an A&E department – up from 73.8% the previous week and the highest proportion for two months.

However, the proportion of patients seen within the four-hour target still lags almost 20% behind the Scottish Government’s 95% benchmark.

In the week ending November 14, 24,717 patients attended A&E with 6125 patients waiting more than four hours to be admitted, transferred or discharged. Of those, 1243 waited longer than eight hours and 331 patients had a wait of 12 hours or more.

NHS Forth Valley, which has recorded the 14 worst performances in the previous three months, saw its compliance decrease from 58.9% to 57.8%.

Only NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney exceeded the 95% target.