Talking-up Scotland

NHS waiting lists nearly FOUR times longer in England than in Scotland

Reported on BBC 1 News today at 1pm

‘New figures show the number of people waiting for hospital treatment in England has hit a record high of 4.39 million with the total waiting for treatment in May the highest since records began more than a decade ago.’

Reporting Scotland followed with a baby death, two babies allegedly treated like lab rats, a murder and an understaffed prison but made no mention of waiting times here.

While exactly comparable 2019 figures do not seem to be available, in June 2018, there were around 81,000 patients waiting over 12 weeks for an outpatient consultation, and around 21,500 patients waiting over 12 weeks for inpatient and day case treatment, giving a total of around 103 000. England has around 11 times the population of Scotland so if the rates were similar, then around 1 130 000 patients should be waiting for treatment there. However, the actual figure is nearly four times that at 4 390 000!

Also, the trend in Scotland, in contrast to that in England, is downward. See:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/waiting-times-improvement-plan/pages/3/