NHS Fife has ranked fourth out of 14 trusts for A&E waiting times but it's still failing to meet other key targets.

The latest figures published by ISD Scotland (Information Services Division), show that 96.8% of patients that visited A&E in August were seen within four hours.

This means NHS Fife is scoring above the 95% national target, with figures also rising by 0.3% compared with August 2016.

However, the trust is falling short of it's 95% target for cancer care, with just 92.7% of patients beginning treatment within 62 days of urgent referral.

This can be following a GP or A&E referral or following a screening test.

Despite missed targets, NHS Fife still ranks fourth with the average across Scotland only hitting 86.9%.

The last time Fife made the 95% target was between October and December 2013.

There's some positives though as this time last year the Kingdom's trust was doing worse by 2.9%.

Planned operations and care are in a worse state, with 84.4% waiting less than 18 weeks for non-emergency treatment, below the target of 90%.

NHS Fife dramatically drops in the rankings in this area sitting at ninth out of the 14 trusts and falling short of Scotland's average of 84.8%.

The last time Fife hit 90% target was September 2016 and more shockingly this time last year figures were 7.3% better.

Annabelle Ewing MSP said:"It is good news that NHS Fife continues to meet and exceed the extremely high target that has been set for all A&E patients to be seen, admitted or discharged within four hours.

"Clearly, there is more work needing done to ensure that the ambitious targets that have been set in other areas are also being met and I will be asking NHS Fife what actions are being taken to achieve that.

"I know that staff across NHS Fife are working really hard and I will always value the vital work done by our NHS workforce. We should celebrate their successes and continue to support their efforts to improve the service that they provide."

Chief Operating Officer, Professor Scott McLean, said: “A diagnosis of cancer is a worrying time for anyone and those patients requiring urgent treatment for the most aggressive forms of cancer will most often begin treatment within a matter of days, and well within the 62-day standard.

“Indeed, the vast majority of patients continue to be seen within the 62-day standard with only a small number of patients requiring non-urgent treatment in certain specialities waiting beyond this time.

“It is worth remembering also that within the same time period, 99.4% of cancer patients in Fife were treated within the 31-day cancer target – considerably higher than the standard of 95% and the national average of 94.8%."

On 18 week RTT, Professor Scott McLean, commented: “We acknowledge that our performance against the 18 week referral-to-treatment standard is below where we would like to be. It is worth noting all patients requiring urgent treatment go on to receive this well within the 18 week standard.

“Additional capacity is now place to improve our performance in this area and we anticipate an improvement towards the end of this year.

“We remain one of Scotland’s best performing Boards for our elective waiting times and emergency access (4hr) performance.”