NHS waits fall for the four month in a row but one in nine Scots still on waiting list

The number of Scots on NHS waiting lists has fallen and waits of over a year have reduced for the fourth month in a row.  

September saw a 7.3 per cent reduction in new outpatients waiting longer than a year compared to the previous month.  

However, the figures from Public Health Scotland still show an estimated 628,696 individuals are on at least one new outpatient, inpatient or day case waiting list. This is equivalent to around one in nine of Scotland’s population.

Health secretary Neil Gray welcomed the improvements, though acknowledged many patients are “still facing unacceptable waits”.

Opposition parties have criticised the government’s record, arguing not enough is being done to further reduce those numbers.

The overall waiting list for outpatients has fallen by two per cent in the same month as last year, while the inpatient and day case waiting list has fallen by 0.2 per cent over the same period. 

Waits of over a year on the Treatment Time Guarantee – the legal right that mandates health boards ensure patients receive planned inpatient or day case treatment within 12 weeks of agreeing to the treatment – have also decreased by 5.9 per cent, compared with the previous month, and are now lower than the same point last year. 

The new figures also show that outpatient attendances for September have increased by 10,136 to 116,776 when compared with August. 

There has also been an increase of more than 31,000 appointments and procedures from April to September compared to the same period in 2024. 

Gray said: “These new figures show our plan is working and delivering for the people of Scotland – we have provided more than £110m of additional targeted funding this year to tackle the longest waits and we are now seeing the tangible impact of our significant investment. 

“We are not only seeing the total list size and longest waits come down, but we are also treating more people, with activity increasing significantly compared to last month and last year. My thanks to all teams across the country who are working so hard to drive these improvements. 

“Despite this progress, we know that many people are still facing unacceptable waits, and we are determined to build on these improvements and ensure people receive the treatment they need as soon as possible.” 

Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Jackie Baillie has accused the SNP of attempting to “fiddle the figures” after ministers revised waiting time guidance.

She said: “Despite the SNP’s shameful attempts to fiddle the figures, the equivalent of 700,000 Scots are still stuck on waiting lists for inpatient or outpatient care.  

“The SNP has made scrutiny of its record on waiting lists impossible by changing how it records data just before the election, but it won’t work. Diagnostic waiting times are also missing from the publication, which would have added more than 100,000 to the waiting list. 

“No matter how the SNP count it, they cannot escape the fact hundreds of thousands of Scots are stuck in waiting list hell on their watch.  

“The SNP has had years to fix this crisis – it is out of ideas and out of time.” 

Despite the decreases in waiting times, only 64 per cent of people attending A&E were seen within the government’s four-hour target in the week ending 19 October, while 3,137 people waited over eight hours and 1,347 waited over 12 hours, both higher than the previous week. 

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “For years now, under this SNP government A&E departments have been stuck in a state of permacrisis. It is only October, we have not even begun to see the worst winter pressures, and we are still seeing thousands waiting far too long each and every week.”