More than 800,000 still stuck on an NHS waiting list

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said that the SNP are terrible for your health after figures showed that more than 800,000 Scots are still on NHS waiting lists.

New figures from Public Health Scotland show that as of 31st December 2025:

• 517,415 were on an outpatient waiting list.
• 156,314 were on an inpatient waiting list.

When these figures are combined with the latest figures for the total waiting list size for eight key diagnostic tests (146,005), the number of Scots on a waiting list is 819,734.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“The SNP cannot be trusted with our NHS because hundreds of thousands of patients are still stuck on waiting lists.

“It’s preventing people from returning to work and getting on in life, with Scotland lagging miles behind England in terms of cutting waits.

“The SNP are terrible for your health and our economy. Scotland deserves change with fairness at its heart, and you can vote for that in May by backing the Scottish Liberal Democrats on your second, peach-coloured ballot paper.”