Gray hails ‘sustained and continued improvement’ in number of planned operations

Scotland’s NHS planned almost 8% more operations for the first month of this year than in January 2025 – with Health Secretary Neil Gray insisting there has been a “sustained and continued improvement in the number of operations carried out”.

He added that the increase occurred despite “on-going pressures” on the health service and the “adverse weather seen over winter”, which he said had also impacted the NHS.

The Health Secretary spoke out as figures from Public Health Scotland showed there were 25,766 operations planned across the NHS in January, with this marking a rise of 7.7% – or 1,835 more procedures – than the same month in 2025.

Over the course of the year, from February 2025 to January 2026, a total of 302,449 surgeries were planned.

This total is up by 6.1% from the previous 12 months, with 17,490 procedures planned over the course of the year.

Public Health Scotland, which published the figures, said the rise “reflects the post-Covid pandemic trend of generally increasing planned operations”.

However its report added that the number of surgeries is “yet to reach those typical of the pre-pandemic period”.

However, Mr Gray said: “These new figures show that our plan is delivering for Scotland.”

The Health Secretary added: “I am pleased to see sustained and continued improvement in the number of operations carried out, despite on-going pressures and the adverse weather seen over winter which has impacted activity.

“I thank all NHS staff for their continued hard work – they are driving this progress and these figures are further evidence that our NHS is turning a corner.

“We are seeing waits of over a year come down month after month and we are delivering thousands more operations, procedures and appointments compared to last year – we are determined to build on this momentum.”

The same figures also showed that 10.6% of operations planned in January 2026 ended up being cancelled either the day before the procedure or on the day of surgery.

This cancellation rate was up from 9.9% in January 2025, with 2,724 operations cancelled at short notice in the first month of this year, compared to 2,369 the previous year.