UK · NHS Scotland

NHS Scotland waiting times: the latest figures by specialty

Figures read 29 October 2026 (Taipei time)

The latest NHS Scotland waiting times (September 2026)

Public Health Scotland published these figures on 27 October 2026. They cover two lists: people waiting for a first appointment with a hospital specialist (new outpatients), and people waiting to be admitted for treatment after they and their consultant have agreed on it (inpatients and day cases).

• 588,864 people were on at least one list: 460,672 waiting for a new outpatient appointment and 151,163 for an inpatient or day-case admission.
• 53.7% of admissions in September 2026 came within 12 weeks, down from 54.7% in August. The median wait of the 24,657 people admitted was 71 days.
• 156,786 inpatient and day-case waits were still open at the end of the month; 59,090 had passed 26 weeks, 15,064 had passed a year and 1,476 had passed two years.
• 61.3% of new outpatients seen in September 2026 had waited 12 weeks or less. The standard is 95%. 12,683 outpatient waits had passed a year, 1,084 of them two years.

Waits, not people: someone waiting for two appointments counts twice in the wait counts. Only the headline estimate of 588,864 counts individuals.

Waiting times by specialty in Scotland

For an operation, the specialty matters more than the national average. These are the median waits of people admitted in September 2026, longest first, from Public Health Scotland's open data for all NHS boards (open data).

Trauma and orthopaedics, where hip and knee replacements sit, has both the longest list (41,486 waits) and the longest median wait: only about a quarter of people admitted in September 2026 were treated within the guarantee. Ear, nose and throat is the next slowest. Eye surgery, which includes cataracts, has the most admissions, and half were treated within 12 weeks.

Are NHS Scotland waiting times getting shorter?

Two figures are moving in opposite directions. The very long waits are falling fast: inpatient and day-case waits over a year dropped from 37,565 in September 2024 to 29,583 in September 2025 and 15,064 in September 2026. But the share of people treated within 12 weeks has slipped, from 57.1% to 56.5% and now 53.7%, and the list itself has barely changed at around 157,000 waits. In other words, boards are clearing the longest waiters first, and the typical wait for everyone else has not shortened.

Your right: the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee

The guarantee is in law. Section 8 of the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 says an eligible patient is to start an agreed treatment within the maximum waiting time (section 8); Public Health Scotland gives that as 12 weeks from the decision to treat, for inpatient and day-case care. To meet it, the health board must take all reasonably practicable steps, including treating you through another health board or a suitable alternative provider if it cannot do so in its own area.

If the guarantee is broken, section 10 says the board must arrange your treatment at the next available opportunity, explain why it did not start in time, and tell you about the advice and support available, including the Patient Advice and Support Service, and how to complain (section 10). It does not promise compensation, or payment for private treatment at home or abroad.

1. Ask your hospital for your expected date in writing, and when your 12 weeks run out.
2. Ask whether another board can treat you sooner. The Act names this as one of the steps a board should take.
3. If the date passes, ask for the explanation the Act requires, and contact the Patient Advice and Support Service if you need help to raise it.

Scotland and England measure waits differently

England counts from referral to the start of treatment and reports against 18 weeks; Scotland's inpatient figure counts from the decision to treat, against 12 weeks. Public Health Scotland, with the ONS, says direct comparisons between the four nations cannot be drawn reliably and asks users not to make them. For England's own numbers, see our NHS waiting list tracker.

If you decide not to wait

Paying privately is the other route. For a hip replacement, Nuffield Health's UK average guide price starts at £16,579, while the lowest published prices abroad are in Poland (about £4,760 to £7,130). For cataract surgery, Optical Express quotes from £2,000 per eye in the UK, against about £628 to £731 in Hungary. Compare every country on hip replacement abroad and cataract surgery abroad, or use the wait-or-fly calculator.