CHILDREN across Scotland have been left “worried and waiting” for hospital treatment, with just one health board meeting target, paediatricians warned today.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) detailed in their 2024 Worried and Waiting report that wait times doubled between 2012 and 2023, with almost half of all patients forced to wait over 12 weeks for treatment in 2023 compared with just 1 per cent in 2012.

Overall, waits have since fallen by 16 per cent, and waits over 12 weeks have fallen to 39 per cent.