Scottish NHS waiting list figures hit new high
The number of scots who are on an NHS waiting list has reached a new high–with official figures showing 864,366 patients are waiting either for an appointment, for tests or for hospital treatment.
That includes more than 9,000 patients 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 2024 also showed there were 1,324 patients who have been waiting three years or more for hospital treatment, either as an inpatient or on a day care basis.
They were among the 7,146 Scots who have been waiting two years or more for such treatment.
Overall there were 155,558 patients waiting for hospital treatment as of june 30, with the figures also showing 558,896 people waiting for an outpatient appointment at this time.
This includes 2,024 people have been on the list for more than 104 weeks for such an appointment.
With the overall number of Scots on an NHS waiting list up from 840,300 at the end of March 2024, Scottish Conservative health spokesperson sandesh Gulhane said the figures showed that under th es np“the backlog in Scotland’s NHS has spiralled out of control”.
Dr Gulhane added: “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.
“This explains why increasing numbers are being forced to raid their life savings to go private and avoid intolerable waits.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie 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 S np’ sf ail ur eh as put live sat risk, undermined the very existence of ournhs 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.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-hamilton also hit out, saying :“These intolerablylong waits are causing untold anxiety in those wating on diagnostic tests or to receive treatment. They deserve much better than this.”
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 then health secretary Humza Yousaf 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.
Warm words simply do not cut it any more Jackie Baillie