Professor John Robertson OBA

In January 2025, SNP First Minister John Swinney promised to get NHS Scotland waiting lists down substantially and, based on the latest figures, he has. It’s not proving a popular narrative for the MSM in Scotland.

At the end of 2025, NHS Scotland’s overall waiting list for new outpatient appointments has fallen for the 6th month in a row, to 559 077 pathways:

^{https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-stage-of-treatment/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times-inpatients-day-cases-and-new-outpatients-6-january-2026/}

All things being equal, the equivalent NHS England figure should be around 5.6mn but it was 7.46 mn, 51% longer!

^{https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/}