Tuesday May 26th 2026
Photo by Ray Sangga Kusuma
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Healthcare waiting lists continue to fall in Scotland with new outpatient waiting times over a year decreasing for 11 consecutive months, latest Public Health Scotland statistics have shown.
Alongside the outpatient decrease, daycase waits have reduced for 15 months in a row.
The statistics from Public Health Scotland show that on 30 April 2026, new outpatients waits of over a year have fallen by 7.0% compared to March 2026. They also highlighted that these waits have reduced every month since July 2025 with total waits over 52 weeks down by 76.5% in that period.
The data also shows long waits for inpatient and daycase procedures have fallen every month since July 2025 with 52 week waits decreasing by 47.4% in that period.
Waits for one of the eight key diagnostic tests are now at their lowest level since May 2021.
Latest quarterly figures until 31 March 2026 show waits across endoscopy fell by 6% and radiology by 10% when compared to the previous quarter, with 52% of endoscopy tests and 78% of radiology tests having been ongoing for less than 6 weeks – the highest figure for both test types since March 2020.
Health Secretary Angela Constance highlighted that the new data shows that the government has surpassed their pledges to provide 150,000 additional appointments last year, with data showing 168,177 additional appointments and procedures were carried out in the financial year up to March 2026 compared to the same period in the previous year.
She explained: “These new figures show our plan is delivering for the people of Scotland. We are seeing sustained decreases in waits of over a year with 11 consecutive months of progress in new outpatient waits and inpatient and daycase procedures reducing for 15 months in a row. We have seen significant decreases in waits over a year in these time periods with more and more people getting the treatment they need.
“This is testament to the hard work of our NHS staff across Scotland and I thank them for their continued outstanding efforts.
“We know there is more to do, and I am determined to continue to build on this substantial progress and ensure people receive the treatment they need as soon as possible.”
New figures also show in the first 9 months of 2025-26, 34,089 procedures were carried out in National Treatment Centres, surpassing the commitment to see planned activity increasing to over 30,000.
Tweet Share on Facebook
