SCOTLAND’S NHS is lagging behind England in Covid-19 recovery, according to a leading think tank.

In a new report, one of a series being published before next week’s Scottish Budget, the Institute for Fiscal Studies looked at a range of metrics across the UK and found that the number of day cases is the only area of hospital care in Scotland which has returned to pre-Covid levels.

On every other indicator, including A&E and cancer treatment waiting times, the service had gone backwards since the last quarter of 2019, in contrast with NHS England, which only fell short on waits for elective referrals.