NHS waiting times - diagnostics
Waits for key diagnostic tests

About this release

This quarterly release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) shows the number of ongoing waits for eight key diagnostic tests at 31 March 2026 and the lengths of wait experienced so far. These include four endoscopy tests (upper endoscopy, lower endoscopy excl. colonoscopy, colonoscopy, and cystoscopy) and four radiology tests (CT scan, MRI scan, barium studies, and non-obstetric ultrasound). The national waiting times standard is that patients should wait no longer than six weeks (42 days) for these diagnostic tests.

This publication includes an 'Official Statistics in Development' release of data on the number of eight key diagnostic tests performed for the period from April 2024 onwards.

Please note, several errors were identified within the previous versions of the Diagnostic tests (sheets '1d. Board Comparison - Ongoing' and '2d. Board comparison - Activity') and Diagnostics non-key test files ('Chart' tab). This issue affects only the publication tables of the previous publication, and the issue is only seen in month ending February 2026.

The accompanying publication reports, files, and open data files are not affected. Please see the respective excel files for more detailed notes.

Main points

This stacked area chart is plotted on a dual-axis and shows the monthly trend in the waiting list size for endoscopy tests combined and radiology tests combined. There are also sparklines to illustrate the percentage of waits ongoing for six weeks or less for all eight tests combined, all endoscopy tests combined and all radiology tests combined from 31 March 2023 to 31 March 2026. Radiology tests largely occupy the chart, due to the volume of ongoing waits for these tests compared to endoscopy tests.

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Figure 1: Trend in ongoing waits and percentage of waits ongoing for six weeks or less at month-end, NHSScotland, 31 March 2023 to 31 March 2026

For ongoing waits at 31 March 2026:

• The total waiting list size (number of ongoing waits) for the eight key diagnostic tests combined was 112,696: 27,931 endoscopy waits and 84,765 radiology waits. This is a 9% decrease (-11,296) from the previous quarter-end, when there were 123,992 ongoing waits. The latest quarter end has the lowest number of ongoing waits seen since 31 May 2021 (111,619).
• There was a decrease in the waiting list size for both endoscopy (-1,730, -6%) and radiology (-9,566, -10%) when compared to the previous quarter-end. The decrease for endoscopy was seen across all four tests: cystoscopy showed a decrease of 641 (-12%), lower endoscopy reduced by 422 (-14%), upper endoscopy by 393 (-3%), and colonoscopy by 274 (-3%). The decrease for radiology was driven by MRI (-5,799, -17%), non-obstetric ultrasound (-5,455, -13%), and barium studies (-55, -13%), while an increase was seen for CT (+1,743, +9%).
• Of the 112,696 ongoing waits at quarter-end, 72% (80,781) had not yet exceeded the six-week standard, an increase of 15 percentage points from last quarter-end (70,999) and 14 percentage points compared to end March 2025 (83,573). At 31 March 2026, 52% of endoscopy tests had been ongoing for less than 6 weeks compared to 78% of radiology tests, the highest figure for both test types since 31 March 2020.
• The number of radiology tests ongoing over 26 weeks reduced by 85% (-2,586) compared to the same quarter a year ago at March 2025 and is at the lowest level seen since recording of the longer wait categories began in September 2020. For non-obstetric ultrasound the same is also true, reducing by 95.6% (-824) when compared to the same quarter a year ago and is the lowest level seen since recording of the longer wait categories began in September 2020.
• There were 1,304 waits that had been ongoing for longer than a year at the latest quarter-end (1% of all waits). Endoscopy tests accounted for 96% (1,257) of these and radiology tests the other 4% (47). Radiology waits over 52 weeks reduced compared to the previous quarter (-72%, -118), from 165 to 47, and by 4% (-2) compared to March 2025 (49). Endoscopy waits over 52 weeks decreased by 50% (-1,247) compared to the previous quarter-end, from 2,504 to 1,257, and by 67% (-2,539) compared to the same quarter last year.

This stacked area chart shows the monthly trend in activity for endoscopy tests combined and radiology tests combined between 30 April 2024 and 31 March 2026. Radiology tests largely occupy the chart, due to the volume of activity for these tests compared to endoscopy tests.

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Trend in volume of activity for 8 key diagnostic tests from April 2024 to March 2026

For activity during quarter-ending 31 March 2026:

• The total volume of activity (number of completed tests) for the eight key diagnostic tests combined was 255,232 (220,087 in radiology and 35,145 in endoscopy). This is a 4% increase (+9,855) from the previous quarter, when there were 245,377 completed tests and a 16% increase (+35,044) when compared to the same quarter last year. The latest quarter of activity is the highest volume of activity reported to PHS since the first month of data supplied, April 2024.
• When compared to the previous quarter, the volume of activity increased by 5% (+1,627) for endoscopy tests and 4% (+8,228) for radiology tests. There is also an increase, when compared to the same quarter last year, of 8% (+2,532) for endoscopy activity and 17% (+32,512) for radiology activity.
• When compared to the previous quarter, the increase in endoscopy was seen across all four tests: cystoscopy (+650, +11%), colonoscopy (+373, +3%), upper endoscopy (+361, +3%), and lower endoscopy (+243, +10%). The same is true for radiology tests, where all four tests contributed to the increase: MRI (+5,250, +10%), non-obstetric ultrasound (+2,431, +3%), CT (+491, +1%), and barium studies (+56, +7%).
• Of the 255,232 completed tests across the quarter, more than two-thirds (68%, 174,038) were completed within six weeks. The peak of the quarter was in March 2026, when the number reached 63,722 (70%). For endoscopy tests, 69% (24,060) of tests were completed within 6 weeks; for radiology, the figure was 68% (149,978).
• The number of key tests delivered after a wait of over 52 weeks, when compared to the previous quarter, increased by 18% (+280), from 1,553 to 1,833. Endoscopy tests saw the number of tests delivered after a wait of over 52 weeks increase by 20% (+237), while the number of radiology tests increased by 11% (+43).

Updated waiting times guidance

To enable health boards to apply 2023 waiting times guidance calculations to aggregate data submissions, updates to health board IT systems and changes to local processes are required. Boards will implement these changes at different time points locally over the next 12-18 months. At 31st March 2026, 3 boards had upgraded their systems to incorporate these changes so far, affecting 26.6% of diagnostic test waits across Scotland. During the current quarter, we estimate that less than 1% of waits across Scotland are likely to have had a change to their calculation, making them shorter than they would have been under the 2012 guidance. For further information on the impact this has had on figures for NHS Scotland and NHS boards which have implemented the guidance, please refer to the Data quality document.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 25 August 2026.

PHS is currently undertaking a review of the statistical publications we produce; all planned care waiting times outputs are being reviewed and this may lead to a change in the content, layout and frequency of future publications. Any substantial changes will be announced ahead of implementation. For more information, please contact us at phs.waitingtimes@phs.scot.​