Investing in additional capacity across the health
service.
Extra investment to tackle NHS waits is expected to deliver more
than 300,000 appointments and procedures this year.
Additional funding of £106 million was set out in the 2025-26
Budget, and an extra £4 million for dermatology activity has been
announced today.
The additional planned appointments and procedures delivered
through this £110 million are expected to break down as follows.
- 195,000 imaging scans
- 31,000 inpatient or day-case procedures
- 88,000 new outpatient appointments
- 4,100 new dermatology outpatient appointments
This means 213,000 more appointments are expected to be delivered
this year than in 2024/25 – exceeding the Programme for
Government commitment of delivering 150,000 appointments by more
than 60,000.
A proportion of the funding will also support cancer activity and
provide critical supporting services including pathology,
diagnostic reporting and pre-assessment.
Mr Gray said:
“Reducing long waits in the NHS is one of the biggest priorities
for the First Minister and the Scottish Government. Our record
investment in the NHS this year is allowing us to target specific
areas that are experiencing long waits, reducing backlogs and
getting people the appointments and treatments they need as
quickly as possible.
“I am pleased to confirm that we expect the additional funding
committed to reduce waiting times to result in more than 300,000
appointments and procedures this year. My thanks go out
to all the hard-working NHS teams for their continued efforts.
“Also today I am announcing an additional £4 million specifically
for dermatology. We know that this is an area with significant
backlogs, so by investing in increased capacity we hope to be
able to reduce waiting times for this speciality.”
Background
Written question and
answer: S6W-39486 | Scottish Parliament Website
As 105,000 additional appointments were delivered last year
through an extra £30 million investment, there are expected to be
around 213,000 extra appointments this year compared to what was
delivered in 2024/25.
The £4 million for additional dermatology activity is expected to
fund the following:
4,100 new outpatient appointments
1,500 ‘see and treat'
Photo-triage of up to 8,300 digital images.
£106 million to reduce
waiting times.
