Malcolm Chisholm: "More pressure"

Mr Chisholm chose to concentrate on the positive aspects of the survey and praised A&E staff for seeing nine out of 10 serious trolley cases within 19 minutes and completing treatment for nine out of 10 patients in less than four hours.

The health minister said this represented "the fastest NHS casualty performance anywhere in the UK".

He also set out the package of measures to expand local family health services and free-up hard-pressed casualty staff to deal with serious emergencies like heart attacks and road traffic accidents.

He said these measures, which are currently being backed by �100m of investment, would include:

• the roll-out within the next year of NHS24, Scotland's first round-the-clock patient advice line;

• recruitment of extra practice nurses and other health professionals to support GPs and expand the delivery of services like minor surgery;

• �18.5m to support GPs and their teams to work more flexibly to improve access to services for patients, including later opening hours and Saturday clinics; and

• the modernisation of A&E services in 12 areas of the country backed by �11m of additional investment.

Mr Chisholm said: "More services provided in a more flexible way by family doctors, practice nurses, health visitors and pharmacists will take more pressure off our busy casualty departments leaving them to deal with real emergencies."

But according to doctors much more investment will be needed before the overall picture improves.

John Garner from the BMA Scotland said: "There is such a deficit that we have half the number of doctors in Scotland than other countries in Europe, so, there is a big gap to make up.

"We are pleased at the progress that is being made but we need a lot more".