One in seven Scots languish on record NHS waiting lists

NHS Scotland’s patient backlog is “out of control” with more than one in seven Scots on the waiting list, official figures show.
The number of patients on the list has hit a record, with 864,366 people waiting for an appointment, tests or hospital treatment, representing about 16 per cent of the population.
That includes more than 9,000 who have been waiting at least two years for either inpatient or day care treatment in a hospital, or for an outpatient appointment. Public Health Scotland data from the end of June also showed there were 1,324 patients who had been waiting three years or more for hospital treatment.
With the overall number of Scots on an NHS waiting list up from 840,300 at the end of March, Sandesh Gulhane, the Scottish Conservative health spokesman, said the figures showed that under the SNP “the backlog in Scotland’s NHS has spiralled out of control”.
“More than 860,000 Scots are stuck on a waiting list for crucial treatment or diagnostic tests, with many being forced to endure unacceptable waits of over a year or more,” he said.
“This explains why increasing numbers are being forced to raid their life savings to go private and avoid intolerable waits.”
Dame Jackie Baillie, the Scottish Labour health spokeswoman, said: “It is simply unacceptable that a record 864,366 Scots are stuck in pain on waiting lists due to almost two decades of SNP incompetence.”
She added: “The fact is that the SNP’s failure has put lives at risk, undermined the very existence of our NHS and let down the people of Scotland. Warm words simply do not cut it any more.
“Scots demand action to support our NHS, help staff and ensure patients get the treatment that they need when they need it.”
Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said the “intolerably long” waits were causing “untold anxiety” to patients.
He added: “The blame for this lies solely at the door of the SNP and their mismanagement of the health system. They have failed to give our hard-working NHS staff the beds, safe staffing and resources they desperately need.”
While the Scottish government has set targets to reduce the longest waits for NHS treatment in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, Public Health Scotland said that “these targets have yet to be achieved”.
The targets, announced by Humza Yousaf when health secretary in July 2022, set out to end waits of more than two years for inpatient or day case treatment by the end of September 2022, with waits of a year or more to be ended by the end of September this year.
Public Health Scotland, however, noted that in all categories waits had increased over the last year.
As of June 30, there were 37,972 patients who have been waiting a year or more for hospital treatment, having increased by 3,615 since the targets were announced two years ago. Patients waiting 52 weeks or more now make up almost a quarter (24.4 per cent) of those on the waiting list.
Neil Gray, the health secretary, said: “We know that people are waiting too long but we are determined to provide the necessary support to drive improvements and will continue to target resources to reduce waiting times, particularly for the people waiting longest for treatment.”
He added that “significant activity is already under way” following £30 million of investment by the Scottish government that was announced in the spring with the aim of targeting backlogs.