Humza Yousaf has been accused of going "AWOL" after new figures revealed the number of people waiting more than eight hours or more at A&E has risen to record levels.
Statistics from Public Health Scotland released on Tuesday show that some 3,553 people waiting more than eight hours at emergency departments in the week up to October 9. The figure rose from 3,427 in the week before.
The number of people who waited half a day at A&E fell slightly from 1,510 - a record high - to 1,506 in the same timescale.
Meanwhile, the total proportion of people seen and subsequently admitted or discharged with the four hour government target fell slightly from 64.3 per cent to 64.2 per cent - but remained above the record low of 63.5 per cent.
The Scottish Government has said 95 per cent of patients should be seen within the four-hour target, but this has not been met since the early days of the pandemic. Some 9,187 of the 25,684 attendances at A&E in that week waited longer than four hours, the figures showed.
Scottish Labour's health spokesperson Jackie Baillie hit out at Humza Yousaf saying the NHS is being "left high and dry by this failed Health Secretary".
She said: "Week after week we are presented with a humanitarian crisis in our A&E departments. That we are now seeing more people waiting over 8 hours for treatment than ever before is a deadly portent of the coming winter.
"Despite the crisis in A&E, the Health Secretary has gone AWOL and only appears to provide commentary on more disarray this winter due to his inaction. Staff are working tirelessly, but they are being left high and dry by this failed Health Secretary.
"It’s high time that this SNP government put Humza Yousaf into special measures before more lives are lost."
Responding to the figures, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said the pressures were "driven" by delays in discharging patients from hospital.
"A&E departments are working under significant pressure and, in common with other healthcare systems across the UK and globally, the pandemic continues to impact performance," he said.
"Recovery from Covid will not happen overnight, which is why we are continuing to work with boards on a number of measures to reduce pressure this winter.
"We are recruiting 1,000 new NHS staff, including 750 frontline nurses from overseas. Our £50 million urgent and unscheduled care collaborative looks to help improve A&E performance by offering alternative routes to care.
"This includes our out-patient antimicrobial therapy service which allows patients to be treated at home or in the community and has already saved 45,000 bed days.
"The pressures experienced by A&E are driven by delays in discharge elsewhere in our hospitals.
"That's why a focus of our winter plan is on social care and actions to encourage integration authorities to help alleviate these delays."
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the Scottish Government "would rather create a new crisis for Scotland than deal with the one unfolding before our very eyes in A&E" - referencing the new paper on Scottish independence released by Nicola Sturgeon on Monday.
"Nicola Sturgeon spent all of yesterday pontificating on currency and borders she wants to erect with England," he said.
The SNP would rather create a new crisis for Scotland than deal with the one unfolding before our very eyes in A&E. Patients and staff alike are being taken for granted. Humza Yousaf is no better than the First Minister. His NHS statement was completely devoid of substance.
"Patients and staff cannot carry on like this. The Health Secretary must drop his opposition to an urgent inquiry into the avoidable deaths linked to the crisis in emergency care."
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