THE NHS in Scotland will have to increase its treatment of non-emergency patients by 20 per cent if it is to tackle its waiting list backlog that started before the Covid pandemic.

Research by the University of Edinburgh said Scotland’s NHS waiting list topped 667,000 at the end of December 2023 — and  that without any increase in capacity could increase to nearly one million by December 2026.

It said a 20 per cent increase in capacity would clear the backlog in three years.