ScottishNews.com

First Minister John Swinney used his Programme for Government to promise that nobody would wait longer than 26 weeks for treatment by the end of 2031.

However, an analysis by Audit Scotland found that most of the previous waiting-list commitments made by SNP ministers were not achieved.

The government announced a series of targets in 2022 intended to progressively eliminate waits of more than two years, 18 months and one year.

Only the pledge to eradicate outpatient waits of more than two years in most specialities by August 2022 was met.

Targets to eliminate outpatient waits exceeding 18 months by December 2022 and one year by March 2023 were both missed.

Three corresponding pledges covering inpatient and day-case treatment were also missed.

Ministers had promised to eliminate waits of more than two years by September 2022, 18 months by September 2023 and one year by September 2024.

The Scottish Government subsequently made a new commitment to eliminate waits exceeding one year for outpatient appointments and inpatient or day-case treatment by March 2026.

Official figures show that deadline was also missed. At the end of March, there were 16,090 ongoing outpatient waits of more than 52 weeks, including 1,166 exceeding two years.

There were also 17,882 inpatient or day-case waits exceeding one year, of which 2,500 had lasted more than two years.

Public Health Scotland said there had been “significant progress”, with the number of long waits falling sharply during the previous year, but confirmed that the government’s March commitment had not been met.

The most recent Public Health Scotland figures show that an estimated 588,825 people were on at least one outpatient, inpatient or day-case waiting list at the end of July.

There were 507,535 ongoing waits for a new outpatient appointment, including 14,857 exceeding one year. A further 157,271 waits were recorded for inpatient or day-case admission, including 16,738 of more than a year.

The number of extremely long inpatient waits has been falling. However, outpatient waits exceeding a year increased slightly in July for the first time since May 2025.

NHS Scotland is also falling well short of its established national waiting-time standards. The standard states that 95% of new outpatients should be seen within 12 weeks of referral. In July, 65.9% were seen within that period.

The statutory Treatment Time Guarantee says all eligible patients should begin inpatient or day-case treatment within 12 weeks of the decision to proceed. Only 57% of patients admitted during July began treatment within that period.

Audit Scotland previously found that none of Scotland’s territorial health boards met both of the main planned-care standards in June 2025.

The public spending watchdog concluded that NHS performance had not improved in line with Scottish Government commitments despite increased funding and staffing.

First Minister John Swinney has now pledged to ensure that nobody waits more than 26 weeks for treatment by the end of 2031.

The Programme for Government includes at least £200 million a year to increase elective capacity and carry out more operations.

NHS boards will also be required to manage waiting lists collectively, beginning with a new national plan for orthopaedic treatment.

The government intends to replace Scotland’s 14 territorial health boards with two strategic boards, arguing that greater national coordination will reduce duplication and allow patients to be treated more quickly regardless of where they live.