NHS waiting times - stage of treatment
Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients

About this release

Following the transition from quarterly, this is the second monthly release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) focusing on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case. It is also the second release applying the NHSScotland waiting times guidance published by the Scottish Government in December 2023 and implemented by PHS in July 2025. The aim of the revised guidance is to continue to ensure that patients who are on waiting lists are managed consistently and fairly across NHSScotland. These latest statistics up to 31 October 2025 cover all patients waiting for a new outpatient appointment or treatment as an inpatient or day case, as well as those seen and removed from a waiting list covered by the national standards. Individual patients are counted more than once if they are waiting to attend more than one scheduled hospital appointment or admission, so the official statistics shown here do not reflect the actual number of individuals involved. These statistics are however supplemented with an estimate of the number of individuals that are on waiting lists for these types of care (for more information, please see our recent blog).

Infographic of an overview of latest statistics on waiting list activity for NHSScotland from October 2023 to October 2025 for key indicators including attendances/ admissions, ongoing waits and waits over 52 weeks for new outpatients and inpatients and day cases.

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Overview of latest statistics on waiting list activity, NHSScotland, up to 31 October 2025

Main points

• At 31 October 2025, there were an estimated 618,477 individuals on at least one new outpatient, inpatient or day case waiting list. This is equivalent to around 1 in 9 of Scotland’s population (mid-2024 estimates). Within this total, 491,200 individuals were estimated to be waiting for a new outpatient appointment, and 150,530 for an inpatient or day case admission.

New outpatients national standard - 95% of new outpatients wait no longer than 12 weeks from referral to being seen.

• There were 117,482 attendances at a new outpatient clinic during October 2025, with 61.9% of these waits completed in 12 weeks or less, a slight increase from 61.6% in September. In 2025/26 to date, there have been 771,717 attendances, up 31,299 compared to the same seven months in 2024/25.
• At 31 October 2025, the number of ongoing waits for an appointment was 547,179, down 1.5% from end of September and down 4% compared to 31 October 2024. Of these ongoing waits, 42.8% were for 12 weeks or less.
• There were 51,319 waits over 52 weeks at 31 October 2025, down 4,870 from the end of September. Of these, 6,350 waits had exceeded two years, a decrease of 360 over the latest month.

Treatment Time Guarantee - Following the decision to treat, all eligible patients should wait no longer than 12 weeks for treatment as an inpatient or day case.

• There were 24,417 inpatient and day case admissions during October 2025, with 58.3% completed within 12 weeks of the treatment being agreed, an increase from 56.6% in September. In 2025/26 to date, there have been 157,840 admissions, up 6,532 compared to the same seven months in 2024/25.
• At 31 October 2025, the number of ongoing waits for treatment was 155,807, down 0.7% from the end of September and down 0.5% compared to 31 October 2024. Of these ongoing waits, 36.9% were for 12 weeks or less.
• There were 27,268 waits over 52 weeks at 31 October 2025, down 1,710 from the end of September. Similarly, the number exceeding two years also decreased from 5,565 to 4,896 over the latest month.

Background

The waiting times section of the website provides further information relating to the supply, quality assurance and reporting of waits, as well as links to the latest national guidance set by the Scottish Government.

Further information

As outlined above, PHS has now increased the frequency of this publication from quarterly to monthly, reflecting high levels of public interest in the statistics. It is the second release of waiting times statistics following the implementation of the NHSScotland waiting times guidance, published by Scottish Government in December 2023 and implemented by PHS in July 2025. The statistics are now aligned to the revised waiting time clock adjustment rules, the impact of which is referenced in the report, with further detail available via the PHS impact assessment - 2023 waiting times guidance. This contains analysis based of statistics published on 28 October 2025. More information about both of these new developments can be found in our recent letter to OSR.

The next release of this publication will be 6 January 2026.