Long NHS waits over 800 times more common in Scotland than England

Long NHS waits are over 800 times more common in Scotland than they are in England, Scottish Labour has claimed.

The party said its own analysis of publicly available figures showed Scotland had nearly 15,000 ongoing waits of two years or more – representing one case per 367 people.

Meanwhile, NHS England reported having 182 waits of more than two years, or around one in 317,000 people.

The figures involve those waiting more than two years on NHS outpatient, inpatient or day case waiting lists.

Under this measure, Labour said the total number of waits of more than two years is 82 times higher in Scotland – or about 864 times higher once adjusted for population size.

Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman, said: “Thousands of Scots have been stuck in limbo for years on end desperately waiting for the help they need, while others have emptied their savings accounts or gone into debt paying for private care.

“The SNP has no excuses – this Government has broken the founding promise of our NHS and failed to ensure Scots have a health service they can count on in their hour of need.

“Our NHS cannot survive a third decade of SNP incompetence – but Scottish Labour has a plan to rebuild our NHS and end the two-tier system the SNP has created.”

Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “The Scottish Government remains laser focussed on reducing waiting times. In the latest quarter, 64.6% of new outpatient appointments were attended within 12 weeks — an improvement from 61.3% in the previous period – while 40.5% of those still waiting had done so for less than 12 weeks.

“We’ve also seen progress in inpatient and day-case admissions, with 57% taking place within 12 weeks, up from the previous quarter, while a third of those still waiting had done so for less than 12 weeks.

“These are encouraging signs that efforts to improve access and efficiency are beginning to deliver results. We know, however, that some people are simply waiting too long and we are determined to drive improvements.

“We are investing more than £110 million this year to make it easier and faster for patients to get access to the treatment they need. This targeted funding will deliver more than 213,000 additional procedures and appointments this year.”

Published: 31/08/2025 by Radio NewsHub