Targets for key NHS waiting times have been missed across Scotland, but Tayside and Fife are bucking national trends.
Health boards failed to meet the 18-week target time between patients being referred and receiving treatment for the first time since the policy was introduced in 2011.
Official statistics also revealed that a waiting-times target for accident and emergency patients is being missed. That has led to calls for Health Secretary Alex Neil to resign.
NHS Tayside put in the best A&E performance in the country, with 99.3% of people being seen within four hours.
It was the only area to have consistently recorded a result of more than 98%, the original bar set by the Scottish Government, over the first three months of this year.
NHS Fife recorded above the revised 95% goal, coming in at 95.8%, while NHS Forth Valley scored 97.2%. The Scottish average shows that 93.3% of patients were seen within the target time in March, down from 93.5% in December.
When it came to the target for 90% of patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, the NHS Scotland average missed the mark every month in the first quarter of 2014.
NHS Forth Valley scored the lowest nationwide 80.8% in March but both NHS Tayside (91.4%) and NHS Fife (92.3%) achieved the goal.
Labour’s health spokesman, Neil Findlay, made a renewed call for Mr Neil to resign, following claims earlier this month that he misled parliament and intervened to save mental health beds at Monklands Hospital in his constituency.
Mr Findlay said: “If Alex Neil won’t resign because he broke the ministerial code over his direction to overturn a decision affecting Monklands Hospital, then these terrible statistics showing the NHS breaking under pressure should be reason enough for him to go.”
Mr Neil said: “Waiting times in our NHS have improved dramatically since 2007 when targets meant some people had to wait six months for a first appointment.”
He added: “Of course, we want to see more improvements, which is why the Scottish Government will continue to work with those health boards that need to deliver further improvement.”