Ms Sturgeon says Scotland has not had to sanction a blanket deferral of operations, as occurred in England.

The first minister says the Labour health secretary in Wales said yesterday that the unprecedented spikes in demand are not pressures you can plan for.

She disagrees with this saying the Scottish government did plan for them.

Mr Leonard says the BMA has said it is fed up with the SNP government's spin.

He raises the issue of an 80 year old from Newton Grange who had to wait for an ambulance from Kelso.

The patient then had to wait 13 hours in a corridor in A+ E and 16 hours for treatment.

In a statement to parliament on Tuesday, Health Secretary Shona Robison said winter flu would be a "key factor" for Scotland's health service to deal with over the coming weeks.

Ms Robison also highlighted that the take-up of flu vaccination among health staff was "lower than we would want."

Official figures show that less than 50% of NHS workers have been immunised.

• See more about the health secretary's statement.
• Why do the majority of NHS staff not get the flu vaccine?

Image source, bbc

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard says the first minister has apologised to the thousands of people who have faced delays in the NHS.

Mr Leonard asks what changes can be made to make sure the NHS in Scotland will not be in the same position next year.

Ms Sturgeon says the government will continue to take the action to make sure the NHS in Scotland remains the best in the UK.

She again outlines the "unprecedented pressures" facing the NHS.

Image source, bbc

Ms Davidson says opposition party leaders want the Scottish government to take responsibility for Scotland's NHS.

She says the SNP government has cut hospital beds and elderly social care places.

Ms Davidson calls for a moratorium on cutting hospital beds.

The first minister accuses the Tories of hypocrisy.

She says the Conservatives will call for tax cuts for the rich in the forthcoming budget.

Ms Davidson says the first minister often wants to refer to the situation in England, but people in Scotland want to hear about Scotland.

Ms Davidson says the number of elderly social care beds in England has gone up, but down in Scotland.

The first minister says the number of beds lost due to delayed dischage is down.

Ms Sturgeon says the opposition makes comparisons with England when it suits them on issues.

She says it is perfectly legitimate to compare the performance of the NHS in Scotland with that of England and Wales.

The first minister says: "Scotland's NHS remains the best performing NHS anywhere in the United Kingdom."

The number of patients kept in hospitals after they are clinically able to leave has fallen by 9.6% over the last year, official figures showed in November.

In September 2017 there were 1,378 cases of delayed discharge in Scotland, down from 1,524 in September 2016.

Image source, Getty Images

The majority of patients stuck in hospital were over 75 years old.

About 400 people were left in hospital because the social care support they needed in order to live in their own home was not available, while more than 200 had to wait for a place in a nursing home.

Image source, Getty Images

Scottish Care has published survey results today, external warning:

• Nearly 40% of care at home services handed work back to local authorities in 2017 on the basis of sustainability and capacity
• Half of home care services did not apply for contracts offered by their local authority on the same grounds
• 86% of home care services are concerned about their sustainability and survival in 2018, with nearly a quarter extremely concerned

Image source, bbc

Ms Sturgeon says the NHS is continuing to cope admirably with these pressures.

Ms Davidson says five years ago there were 23,000 hospital beds in Scotland and now there are 2,000 fewer.

She says there need to be places available in the community.

Has the number of social care places for the elderly increased, she asks.

Ms Sturgeon says there are now 700 more intermediate care beds.

The first minister says the government is ahead of rUK in social care.

She says England are now looking to integrate health and social care, something Scotland has already done.

Image source, Getty Images

The number of people waiting more than four hours in Scotland's accident and emergency units reached record high levels in the last week of the year.

The latest weekly figures show that just 78% of patients across Scotland were seen within the target time.

This was well below the Scottish government's 95% target, and the lowest since the weekly figures began in February 2015.

In the same week in 2016 there were 92.5% treated within four hours.

Image source, PA

Image source, bbc

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson asks if the number of hospital beds has gone up or down in the last five years.

Ms Sturgeon says the number of acute beds has declined as more care is carried out in day care or in the community.

The first minister thanks those in the NHS who worked extremely hard over the festive period.

She says there was a 40% increase in the number of calls to the ambulance service.

More people are presenting with more severe illnesses, she says and she highlights the increase in flu rates.

Ms Sturgeon says there has been a further doubling of flu rates in the latest figures.

The Scottish Trauma Network seeks to improve collaboration between hospitals and regional networks across Scotland to provide the highest quaterly of care to severely injured patients.

Plans include the establishment of four major trauma centres in the west, south-east, north and Tayside.

It was hoped these centres would be operational in 2016 but have been subject to delays.

Image source, Scottish Trauma Network

Image source, bbc

Education Secretary John Swinney says the process is still ongoing with the total number of applications to be known in March.

SNP MSP Gail Ross raises the difficulty of recruiting teachers in rural areas and asks about training teachers in these regions.

Mr Swinney points to funding for preference waiver payments to ensure more probationer teachers go to remote areas.

Data published before Christmas suggests 88% of probationer teachers are now in employment, he says.

In August, several Scottish councils warned they were finding it hard to recruit new science, technology and maths teachers.

A number told BBC Scotland they had had fewer applications for teaching posts in these so-called STEM subjects than they had hoped for.

The Scottish government has been considering measures to widen the ways into teaching.

While the EIS union is happy to consider ways of widening the pathways into teaching, it believes the traditional method of becoming a secondary teacher - a one-year postgraduate course followed by a probationary year in a school - should still be the main method.

Under the spending plans set out in the draft budget 2018-19, total level 2 spending has increased by 2.4% to £11,515.7m.

The breakdown reveals the qualities budget, which was £20.3m in 2017-18, will see a 12% increase to £22.7m - far outpacing the portfolio increase as a whole.

Image source, Scottish government

Image source, bbc

Equalities Secretary Angela Constance says it demonstrates the value ministers place on creating a fairer Scotland.

Over 220 equalities projects are supported by the Scottish government, she says.

Increased resoruce for 2018-19 will support programme for government commitments on British Sign Language, social isolation and human rights, she adds.

Tory MSP Adam Tomkins queries the effectiveness of spending.

"We will indeed ensure maximum value for money is obtained," Ms Constance says.

She criticises the UK government's approach to migrants and asylum seekers.