I thank the First Minister for his response, but in NHS

Ayrshire and Arran, one patient waited at A and E for 122 hours—that is five days. At Borders general hospital, the wait was 88 hours. In NHS Lanarkshire, someone waited more than 72 hours. Consultants—I repeat, consultants—tell me that patients are being treated on trolleys in corridors when they should be in a bed.

Let us be in no doubt that the long waits are costing lives. The First Minister does not have to take my word for it—the Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates that up to 2,000 excess deaths were caused last year by patients waiting more than eight hours in emergency departments. Frankly, that is a national scandal. What action will be taken now to tackle long waits at A and E departments before more lives are lost?