Accident and emergency department staff in north-east hospitals have managed to surpass a waiting times target to ensure patients are seen as quickly as possible.
Official figures published yesterday showed that 95.5% of people admitted were treated and discharged or transferred within four hours.
The target is 95% which means only 91 out of 2,007 people seen during the week ending June 28 spent longer in A&E departments than they should have done. Six people waited more than eight hours for treatment.
The statistics showed that 94.3% of people were treated at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary which meant 73 patients spent more than four hours waiting.
North-east MSPs Christian Allard and Alex Salmond congratulated NHS Grampian staff and highlighted that 11,758 people attended A&E departments in May and 96.3% were seen in under four hours.
The politicians said the figure was above the national average performance which was 93.5%.
Statistics show that 89.9% of patients were seen within four hours in January.
Former first minister Mr Salmond said: “Record health funding for the north-east has certainly helped boost the efficiency of A&E departments and other vital services.
“I am delighted to see the number of people waiting less than four hours to be seen.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said the board was “pleased to have exceeded the government target” throughout May as a whole.
“It is testament to the hard work of all our emergency department staff and we are very grateful to them,” she added.
“However, we are by no means complacent.
“The very nature of unplanned care can result in fluctuations in our performance.
“We would always remind the general public that they can help us by using our services appropriately.”
The figures showed that 98% of people were seen in NHS Highland A&E departments within four hours during the week ending June 28.
The rate for Raigmore Hospital in Inverness was 97.7% which meant only 15 patients waited more than four hours.
The figures for Scotland as a whole showed that A&E departments have produced their best waiting times figures since weekly monitoring began.
In the week ending June 28, they treated a total of 94.7% of patients within four hours, up from 86.1% in the week ending February 22 when weekly monitoring began.