NHS waiting lists in Scotland have reached an unprecedented high, with Public Health Scotland reporting over 690,000 individuals waiting for non-urgent care appointments or treatment as of 31 March. Among these, more than 8,000 have been waiting for over two years, and 85,000 have been on the list for over a year, either for an outpatient appointment or to commence treatment.
Despite the Scottish government allocating £30m to address these waiting lists, opposition parties have criticised the government’s handling of the health service. While more patients are being attended to, the number of new patients being added to the list continues to grow. Out of the total waits, 534,178 were for outpatient treatment, marking a 10% increase from the same period last year and more than doubling the size of the list before the pandemic. For inpatient treatment, there were 156,108 waits, showing a slight decrease from the previous quarter but a 5.8% increase from last year, and again, more than double the average waiting times in 2019.
In July 2022, then Health Secretary Humza Yousaf announced plans to eliminate long waits for treatment. These plans included ending two-year waits for inpatient treatment by September 2022, 18-month waits by September 2023, and those over a year by September 2024. However, Public Health Scotland has reported that these targets have not yet been met, with over 7,000 people still waiting more than two years, and 37,761 waiting over 12 months. Additionally, 1,369 individuals have been on the list for more than three years.
The targets to eradicate long waits for outpatient appointments have also fallen short. Although the number of waits lasting over two years has decreased by 1,486 to 1,302 since the end of June 2022, the number of waits over 18 months has increased by 400 to 9,293, and those over a year have risen by 11,173 to 46,828.
The Scottish government has pledged to create a network of 10 national treatment centres aimed at reducing long waiting times for non-urgent care by delivering at least 40,000 additional elective surgeries, diagnostics, and other procedures per year by 2026. However, due to a pause on capital spending, only three centres are currently operational, with two more expected to open this year. There is no timeline established for the remaining centres.
In response to the situation, the Scottish government is investing £30m in national and local plans to reduce the backlogs accumulated during the pandemic. Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray has stated that the funding and national treatment services are making a positive impact. “It isn’t acceptable that we’re seeing people waiting longer than necessary,” he told BBC Scotland News. “I want to see those waits coming down, I want to see a more productive and improved health service so that it meets the needs of the people of Scotland.”
A government spokesperson highlighted that the level of activity for inpatient and day case patients was at its highest since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in the latest quarter, marking the ninth consecutive increase. They added, “The number of new outpatient attendances (completed waits) was also at its highest since the beginning of the pandemic, with 324,553 patients seen.”
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane described the backlog as “out of control,” noting that “over 840,000 Scots are still waiting for crucial treatment or diagnostic tests, with many of them being forced to endure unacceptable waits of over a year or more.” Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie commented, “After 14 years of a rotten Tory government and 17 years of the SNP’s incompetence, these scandalous waiting list figures show that Scots are being let down by two bad governments in their greatest hour of need.” Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton added that there is a “crisis throughout our NHS,” suggesting that addressing staff shortages in the country’s social care sector could help “relieve pressure” on hospitals.
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