Number on NHS waiting lists in Scotland increases to 776,341, new figures show
More than three quarters of a million Scots are waiting for an outpatient appointment, key tests, or hospital treatment - with new figures showing a "staggering" 776,341 people on NHS waiting lists.
Of the 616,396 patients who are waiting either for an outpatient appointment or for inpatient or day case treatment, there are 73,284 who have been waiting a year or more.
New figures, released by Public Health Scotland (PHS), also showed that at the end of September there were 159,945 people waiting for diagnostic tests.
PHS'S figures also showed a fall in the numbers of patients experiencing the longest waits of two years or more for either hospital treatment or to be seen as an outpatient.
This was welcomed by
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf - but he accepted that the "picture continues to be extremely tough, particularly as we head into winter".
His comments came as official figures showed that as of September 30 this year there were 474,600 people waiting to be seen as outpatients - a total 54 per cent larger than the quarterly average in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
The national standard in Scotland states 95 per cent of new outpatients should wait no longer than 12 weeks from referral to being seen.
But statistics for July to September 2022 showed 96,097 patients - almost a third (32 per cent) of the total number of who were seen - had waited more than 12 weeks for their appointment.
By the end of September, 37,947 people had been waiting a year or more for an outpatient appointment - with this up from 35,697 at the end of June 2022.
However, the number waiting two years or more fell to 2,114 - with this down by 20 per cent from June's total.
At the same time, data showed that at the end of September 141,796 patients were waiting to be admitted for either inpatient or day care treatment - an increase of 1,951 from the end of June.
The number on the waiting list for hospital treatment was up by 35 per cent from September 2021, and was 54 per cent higher than the average total recorded at the end of the four quarters in 2019.
The Scottish Government's legally binding Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) states that eligible patients should wait no longer than 12 weeks for treatment as an inpatient or day case.
But the data showed that 44 per cent of those admitted for treatment over the period July to September had waited longer than this - meaning the guarantee was missed for 23,356 patients in those three months.
A quarter of those on the list for inpatient or day case treatment have been waiting a year or more, the figures showed, with 35,337 patients in this position at the end of September, up from the 34,999 recorded at the end of June.
Meanwhile, 7,612 patients had been waiting two years or more by the end of September - with this total down by 22 per cent from the previous quarter.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf welcomed the reduction in patients waiting 104 weeks or more, describing this as "real progress on our recovery journey" from coronavirus.