PATIENTS have been left waiting in accident and emergency for more than 12 hours, a shock report has revealed.

The latest figures from NHS Ayrshire and Arran showed 74 people had been waiting longer than eight hours in the A&E departments at Ayr and Crosshouse.

And seven people were even forced to endure a 12 hour wait - three times the level most patients should expect. 

Crucially, a total of 788 people locally were seen outwith that limit of four hours, which is the aim for hospitals across the country.

Health boards are supposed to hit a target of 95% seen within this period.

 In Ayrshire, that figure is 92.5%, leaving hundreds more patients waiting longer.

For September 2015, 10,502 people came to A&E departments all across Ayrshire, 92.5 per cent of them were seen within four hours - that’s roughly 9,714 people. 

This means that around 788 people were left for over four hours to be dealt with by staff. 

74 people were in the A&E department for over eight hours, and shockingly seven people went over 12 hours.

An NHS Ayrshire & Arran spokesman said: “Over the past few months NHS Ayrshire & Arran has experienced a high demand for emergency services. 

“We very much regret that a higher than normal number of patients have recently been delayed more than four hours in our Emergency departments of both University Hospitals Ayr and Crosshouse.

“We continue to work on improving our performance towards meeting the target of 95 per cent of patients being treated, discharged or admitted within four hours”.