Extra £25.5m to help cut NHS waiting lists

An additional £25.5m is to be given to health boards this year to help cut NHS waiting lists.

The funding will allow more outpatient appointments and inpatient / day case procedures to take place across a range of specialities including orthopaedics, dermatology, general surgery and gynaecology. Cardiology and paediatrics will also get extra funding.

The announcement was made by First Minister John Swinney on a visit to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

This new support takes total additional investment in the NHS to £135.5 million in 2025/26.

Figures published last week by Public Health Scotland showed there were more than 620,000 Scots on a waiting list as of the end of September, roughly one in nine of the population.

While the number of those waiting over a year decreased, the number of patients waiting over two years for an outpatient appointment actually increased.

Swinney said: “We have already provided £110m of additional targeted funding this year to tackle the longest waits. Now we are providing a further boost to deliver more appointments and procedures, taking the total additional funding to £135.5 million for 2025-26.

“I am determined to build on the progress being achieved by hardworking staff in our health service, like those I met today at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. We want to help them provide the care and treatment patients need and expect – and we are already seeing results.”