NHS England’s waiting list edges ahead of Scotland as winter pressures loom

There are “ominous signs” that winter pressures are already affecting the NHS in England, according to senior health leaders.

The warning comes as new data reveals the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England rose for the second month in a row.

An estimated 7.37 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of August, relating to 6.24 million patients.1

And in Scotland?

At 31 August 2026, there were an estimated 588,073 individuals on at least one new outpatient, inpatient or day case waiting list.2 

Per head of population, 10.5 times the population, if NHS England was as good as NHS Scotland, 6.17m. Ach, only 0.07 million. Only SEVENTY THOUSAND patients, what do they matter?

Bu, but:

Around mid-2025, Scotland’s rate of individual patients per head was fractionally higher.

Specific comparison (June 2025 period)

  • Scotland (30 June 2025): 639,579 estimated individuals
    Population ≈ 5.55 million → ≈ 11.5% (roughly 1 in 8.7).⁠3
  • England (around May–June 2025): ≈ 6.23 million unique patients
    Population ≈ 58.8 million → ≈ 10.6% (roughly 1 in 9.4).4

Any reports of this improvement?

Never mind the overall list, they think. What about this?

Sources:

  1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxnv03e9nmp4o
  2. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times-new-outpatients-inpatients-and-day-cases-29-september-2026/
  3. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/34462/2025-08-26-wt-ipdcop-report.pdf
  4. https://nhsproviders.org/resources/nhs-activity-tracker-july-2025/acute-sector/
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3 thoughts on “NHS England’s waiting list edges ahead of Scotland as winter pressures loom”

  1. NHS Scotland is in a much worse state if you listen to the Doctor on PS today patients on trolleys stacked up and left for days on them with mattresses only fit for three hours I wonder mush if you want to listen.

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  2. Hmm. I know of someone who had a gut condition who needed an op and was on the waiting list for a scheduled op. Was seen by a posh English consultant (not sure why when already scheduled for op) in Edinburgh who told him, can’t do an op, you need to lose weight, (he’s not that huge!) and took him off the list! Person then ended up in A&E, at night, emergency op which then led to complications with long term lifelong effects. That would have been more costly, and emergency night time ops are more risky and of course long term health affected.

    So, it depends also on those making these decisions about which treatment, if any, someone should be getting.
    The BritNats really want the Scottish NHS to crash, let’s hope those relishing telling their stories to undermine the SNHS, don’t expect to be treated should they have any health issues in a hurry. Scotland is held hostage when it comes to the SNHS funding allowed by England, as we all know.
    Wear a mask in shops folks, we just had flu, and yesterday a guy stood sneezing in a shop I was in, he really could have won awards for the biggest and most amount of sneezes over everything and everyone, grrr. I’ll be wearing a mask from now on.

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  3. I always wear a mask whenever I go inside a building even if it is just for a few minutes. Thursday was in Doctor’s waiting room. Only one masked. One of those waiting started to sneeze several times. No hankie…go figure. You can get a box of 50 FFzqp2 masks from Amazon for £13.99.

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