Allied health professionals – musculoskeletal waiting times in NHS Scotland
Quarterly and monthly data to 31 March 2026
Official statistics
- Published
- 23 June 2026 (Latest release)
- Type
- Statistical report
- Author
- Public Health Scotland
About this release
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) focuses on waiting times for a first outpatient appointment at Allied Health Professional (AHP) led Musculoskeletal (MSK) services. The Scottish Government has determined that at least 90% of patients should wait no longer than four weeks to be seen from receipt of referral.
This is the first release of statistics following implementation of the Scottish Government's revised Waiting Times Guidance which was published in December 2023 and implemented by PHS in July 2025. The number of patients seen and waiting to be seen are unaffected by the revised guidance but lengths of wait for AHP MSK services are shorter for some patients. For those patients waiting on 31 March 2026, it is estimated that 6.0% of all ongoing waits for a new outpatient appointment were shorter than they would have been if 2012 calculations were still being applied. Further information on the number of records affected and the impact on reported lengths of wait is available in the report.
Note that NHS Lothian data are excluded from the main points on the length of wait for patients still waiting to be seen. This is because the aggregate data they provided for the period January 2019 to September 2024 does not include how long patients had been waiting at the end of each month.
Main points
- There were 104,889 referrals to AHP MSK services in the quarter ending 31 March 2026, a decrease of 3.6% compared to the quarter ending 31 March 2025 (108,799 referrals).
- Between 2022 and 2024, there was a slight upward trend in the average monthly number of referrals received each year, rising from 31,800 in 2022, to 34,943 in 2023 and 36,164 in 2024. The figure for 2025 shows a slight decrease to 36,141, remaining broadly in line with 2024 levels. Latest figures for the quarter ending 31 March 2026 are slightly lower than the previous two years, averaging 34,963 referrals per month.
- During the quarter ending 31 March 2026, 74,852 patients were seen at a first AHP MSK outpatient appointment, a decrease of 3.8% from a year ago in the quarter ending 31 March 2025 (77,838).
- As with referrals, there was an upward trend in the average monthly number of patients seen in each year between 2022 and 2024 (22,581 in 2022, 25,482 in 2023 and 26,612 in 2024). The trend has changed since then with the 2025 figure of 26,611 patients similar to 2024 and the latest figures for quarter ending 31 March 2026 slightly lower than the previous two years, averaging 24,951 patients per month.
- Between August 2025, when the impact of the new guidance took full effect for completed waits, and March 2026, on average 52.4% of patients waited four weeks or less to be seen. Prior to this, the proportion of patients seen within four weeks had been falling, from 52.3% in 2023 to 48.6% between January and June 2025. During the same time period, a monthly average of 3.2% of patients waited more than 24 weeks. This proportion fluctuated prior to this, but was highest in 2024 at 8.7%. Between January and June 2025, it decreased to 5.5% of patients.
- By the end of the reporting period on 31 March 2026, there were 75,128 patients waiting to be seen which is just slightly higher than a year ago on 31 March 2025 (74,052 patients). The number waiting increased in both 2022 and 2023 but then stabilised during 2024. This trend continued for almost all of 2025 apart from a slight increase in August and September.
- Between July 2025, when the impact of the new guidance took full effect for ongoing waits, and March 2026, the average proportion of patients waiting four weeks or less in each month was 36.5%. This has been consistent at about one third across the time period from January 2022 to March 2026. A similar pattern can be seen for the time bands covering 5 to 16 weeks.
- Between July 2025 and March 2026, a monthly average of 7.4% of patients had been waiting more than 24 weeks. There has been more variation in the proportion of patients waiting more than 24 weeks; in 2022 it was similar to the most recent figure, but it then increased to a high of 10.8% in 2024. As these patients were seen and removed from the list, this proportion then decreased to 6.2% in the first half of 2025.
Background
The AHP MSK data collection covers physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry and orthotics services. It also covered the NHS24 Musculoskeletal Advice and Triage Service (MATS) service from May 2017 until it ended in March 2020.
Data are sourced from the national waiting times warehouse with aggregate data submitted by NHS boards as required. For this release, NHS Borders have provided aggregate data from January 2019 to March 2026 for referrals, patients seen and length of wait, patients waiting and length of wait and removals. Data on non-attendance, patient unavailability and the breakdown of removals and referral source are not available.
Further information
The next release of this publication will be during June 2027.
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Older versions of this publication
Versions of this publication released before 16 March 2020 may be found on the Data and Intelligence, Health Protection Scotland or Improving Health websites.