Neil Gray hails ‘undeniable progress’ on NHS waiting lists

Scotland’s NHS is making “undeniable progress” in tackling waiting times backlogs, Health Secretary Neil Gray has insisted, as new figures showed a fall in the number of patients waiting a year or more for hospital appointments or treatment.

He spoke out as new figures showed that by January 31 there were an estimated 586,859 individuals on NHS waiting lists for either an outpatient appointment or inpatient or day case treatment – the  equivalent to around one in nine of Scotland’s population.

Opposition MSPs said the Public Health Scotland data showed the “backlog in our NHS remains at staggeringly high levels” as they questioned the Scottish Government’s commitment to eradicate waits of a year or more by March 2026.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “John Swinney promised to end year-long waits in Scotland’s NHS by this March, but with over 50,000 Scots still suffering waits this long, he is never going to meet that pledge.”

His comments came as Public Health Scotland data showed that as of January 31 2026 the number of people waiting a year or more for inpatient or day case treatment in a hospital had fallen to 23,057 – with this down by 1,814 from the end of December 2025.

The number of patients waiting two years or more was down by 620 since the end of December to stand at 3,639.

Meanwhile, there were 30,259 people who had been waiting 12 months or more for a new outpatient appointment at hospital as of January 31 – with this down by 7,909 compared to the end of December.

Public Health Scotland’s figures showed 2,752 waits exceeded two years – with this down 1,256 from the end of December, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decrease.

Welcoming the falls, Mr Gray said: “We are making undeniable progress in clearing waits of over a year – we are demonstrating consistent month-on-month improvement.

“We know there is still more to do but these latest figures show that our plan is working and our NHS is turning a corner.”

The Health Secretary said there were “downward trends across nearly all waiting list indicators”, adding that diagnostic work was increasing, meaning “thousands more people getting their MRIs, scans and scopes quicker”.

The figures on diagnostic testing showed that as of December 31 2025 there were a total of 123,992  waiting for key tests – with this down 15% over three months to the lowest total since August 2021.

Mr Gray continued: “Our targeted funding for this year is delivering thousands more operations and procedures and appointments compared to last year, and we are determined to build on this momentum.

“This progress has been driven by our dedicated and hard-working NHS staff. I thank them for their outstanding efforts.”

He spoke out as he met with dermatology staff in NHS Lothian, who had cut outpatient waits of a year or more by 46.4% since July 2025.

The Health Secretary hailed that as “outstanding progress”, adding that ministers want to see this “replicated across the country”.

Dr Gulhane said: “After two decades of SNP incompetence, the backlog in our NHS remains at staggeringly high levels.

“These intolerable waits for treatment have a devastating impact on patients’ physical and mental health, but nationalist ministers still don’t have a credible plan to fix this crisis.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton was also critical of the government, saying: “The hundreds of thousands of people stuck on waiting lists show that the SNP cannot be trusted to deliver for our NHS.

“Their failures are preventing people from returning to work and getting on in life, and hard-working staff are picking up the pieces.”