NHS procedures target exceeded, figures show

The Scottish Government has exceeded its pledge to carry out 64,000 procedures by the end of March this year, figures show.

More than 75,500 operations were delivered between April 2024 and the end of January 2025 – 11,500 more than pledged.

Of these, 56,500 were diagnostic procedures, nearly 9,200 were surgeries, and more than 9,800 were outpatient appointments.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said the statistics show the Government’s plan to bring waits down is working.

The figures, gathered by health boards, show that between April and September last year, there was a 44% decrease in imaging wait times at NHS Fife, a 22% drop in urology waits at NHS Forth Valley, and ear, nose and throat waits at NHS Highland were down 19%.

There was an almost 15% reduction in ophthalmology waits at NHS Lanarkshire, and an almost 10% decrease in general surgery waits at NHS Lothian.

The Scottish Government said the funding for the operations had helped reduce the total national waiting list size for imaging by 7.5% and for scopes by 7.3%.

The figures follow a report last week that found A&E wait times had increased by nearly 100 times since 2011.

Analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine showed 76,346 people had waited more than 12 hours in emergency departments last year. The number is higher than the total decade up to 2020.

The nursing union said “demoralised” staff across the nation’s hospitals have witnessed patients going into cardiac arrest while forced to lay in corridors due to a lack of beds.

Mr Gray said he recognises patients are waiting too long for healthcare access, but he insisted good progress is being made.

“I am pleased to see health boards are now reporting the tangible impacts of our investment to clear the longest waits, he said.

“Our plan is delivering and we are seeing progress across a number of speciality areas.

“I thank staff for their outstanding effort in carrying out this additional activity, which is having a positive impact on people’s lives.

“This is a good start, however we know many people are still waiting too long.

“We are determined to do more and our 2025-26 Budget, with cross-party support now agreed, will provide a record £21.7 billion for health – including £200 million to help to clear waiting list backlogs, improve capacity and reduce delayed discharge.

“This record funding will help us ensure no-one waits more than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment or inpatient/daycase treatment by March 2026.

“We will also deliver over 150,000 extra appointments and procedures in the coming year which will ensure people receive the care they need as quickly as possible.”

Dr Sandesh Gulhane, Tory MSP and the party’s spokesperson for health, said: “Patients and staff will not be fooled by this shameless SNP spin.

“They will be appalled that the SNP are patting themselves on the back at a time when hundreds of thousands of Scots are still languishing on NHS waiting lists and a third of patients are routinely not seen on time at A&E.

“Successive SNP health secretaries have also failed to meet cancer waiting time targets for over a decade, and come nowhere to eradicating delayed discharge in our hospitals as they promised to do a decade ago.

“Lives have been lost because of the incompetence of SNP ministers, yet disconnected ministers are trying to pretend everything is fine.

“Neil Gray needs to take his head out the sand and recognise the permanent crisis in our NHS. He needs to adopt our common-sense plans that would get money to frontline services, rather than it being wasted on pointless pen-pushing.”