Target to end long NHS waits will be missed - report

A target to eradicate long waits for treatment on the NHS will be missed, the Scottish government has revealed.

Last year First Minister John Swinney pledged that by March of this year no patients should be waiting longer than a year for their treatment.

Waits of more than 52 weeks have decreased for the last eight consecutive months but a new Scottish government report has said the eradication target will not be met.

The report added health boards have been told to give the thousands of affected patients a clear timeframe of when they can expect to be seen.

Public Health Scotland data, published last month, shows that in January there were just over 53,000 waits of more than 12 months for inpatient and outpatient treatment.

Figures on whether the Scottish government's March deadline target has been met are scheduled to be released at the end of April.

But a new Scottish government report states: "While not every patient waiting over a year will have received their appointment or treatment by the end of March 2026, we have been clear with health boards that they should communicate with those patients and set a clear timeframe of when they can expect to be seen.

"The data is clear that there has been a demonstrable improvement and waits over a year are now substantially lower than in March 2025. "

In 13 of Scotland's 14 territorial health boards, the report also said those waiting more than two years - which has more than 4,000 open waits - for treatment will be informed of their appointment date by the end of this month.

Data shows that the NHS has made progress in recovering from the pandemic but not at the pace that was first envisaged by Scottish ministers.

Measures introduced in July 2022 sought to eradicate waits exceeding two years, and subsequently one year, in most specialities by September 2024.

But none of those targets were met.

The Scottish government then made its latest pledge about eradicating one-year waits by the end of this month.

In addition, BBC Verify analysis shows many of the key targets set in the Scottish government's 2021 Covid recovery plan, such as increasing overall "capacity" by 10%, have been missed.

In a statement on Tuesday accompanying the report, Health Secretary Neil Gray said: "The data clearly shows our NHS is turning a corner and with the current trajectory, I expect a number of specialties within boards will have nobody waiting longer than a year for treatments or procedures by the end of March.

"This is a significant milestone and builds on the real, sustained progress we have seen month after month.

"While we are delivering thousands more operations and procedures, we know there is more to do."

But Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane described the missed target as "shameful".

He added: "Not having to wait more than a year for treatment should never have been an ambitious pledge, but that is the reality of the SNP-run health service.

"Neil Gray and John Swinney owe all of those patients an apology.

"In typical SNP fashion, they have overpromised and underdelivered."