Waiting times at Scottish A&E departments have improved but are still short of the Scottish Government's target, official statistics show.

During the week ending January 14, a total of 85.8% of patients attending accident and emergency were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

The figure is an improvement on the previous week's figures (77.9%) but is still far below the target of 95%.

Despite the improvement, more than 100 people had to wait over 12 hours to be seen.

A total of 22,883 patients arrived at the country's emergency departments during the period.

The health secretary, Shona Robison, has blamed the poor performance in recent weeks on a substantial rise in the number of flu patients and injuries due to black ice.

NHS Scotland has not met the devolved government's targets in a single week since July last year.

Robison said: "Our A&E departments are continuing to be impacted by the pressures and demand of winter, so these improving statistics are a really significant achievement.

"Flu rates in Scotland are currently almost five times higher than the same period last year and hospitals are reporting a high number of people with already-significant care needs contracting flu, which is increasing demand even further.

"We still have a few months of winter left and there's no doubt we've still got some challenging weeks ahead, particularly with the bad weather we're experiencing, but I'd like to say than you once again to health staff right across Scotland for their continued dedication and hard work."