One in nine Scots waiting for treatment, new figures show

One in nine Scots are waiting for treatment on an NHS waiting list, new figures show.

Statistics released by Public Health Scotland (PHS) on Tuesday sought to estimate the number of individuals stuck waiting for at least one outpatient, inpatient or day case procedure on June 30 of this year, finding the total sat at 639,579.

In total, 728,709 waits were ongoing at that time, 570,498 for outpatient appointments and 158,211 for inpatient and day cases.

Tuesday was the first time PHS revealed its estimates for the number of individuals.

Figures for diagnostic test waiting times were also released on Tuesday, showing 150,506 people were yet to be seen for one of the eight “key” scans or procedures.

When added to the number of ongoing waits for procedures, the figure reached a new record level of 879,215.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said despite the efforts of successive health secretaries and first ministers, “things are worse than ever before”.

“Hundreds of thousands of Scots are languishing on NHS waiting lists for months or even years on end – left in limbo and in pain waiting for the care they desperately need,” she said.

“This SNP Government and its latest inept Health Secretary are failing Scotland and gambling with the very future of our NHS.”

While Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said waiting time have “spiralled out of control”.

“The SNP promised to reduce waiting times, but these shocking figures show this is yet another broken promise,” he said.

“It’s particularly scandalous that nearly a quarter of patients suffered waits of over a year or longer for treatment – this is the brutal legacy of Humza Yousaf’s flimsy recovery plan.

“These intolerable waits have a devastating impact on patients’ physical and mental wellbeing, but SNP ministers still don’t have a plan to tackle this crisis.”

While Health Secretary Neil Gray said some people were “simply waiting too long” and the Government was determined to improve the situation.

“The Scottish Government remains laser focused on reducing waiting times,” he said.

“We are seeing increased activity in diagnostics and new outpatient and inpatient day-case procedures when compared with last year, and we have also seen a 4.7% decrease in the number of inpatient/day case ongoing waits of over 52 weeks, compared to the previous quarter. These are encouraging signs.

“However, we know that some people are simply waiting too long and we are determined to drive improvements.

“We are investing more than £110m this year to make it easier and faster for patients to get access to the treatment they need.

“This targeted funding will deliver more than 213,000 additional procedures and appointments this year.

“We are investing significantly to cut waits and we expect to see the full impact of our targeted funding in the coming months.”