First Minister John Swinney with orthopedic technician Stuart Main during a visit to National Treatment Centre - Fife Orthopaedics in Kirkcaldy, where he announced funding to reduce long waits for NHS treatment, July 27, 2026
CUTTING Scotland’s long NHS waiting lists will be his government’s “lasting legacy,” said John Swinney today.
The First Minister made the claim amid an ongoing crisis in outpatient and A&E waits, which led Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie to claim last week that “ministers still do not have a meaningful plan to get to grips with the crisis facing our NHS.”
Seeking to turn that around with the announcement of a £90 million package of support for NHS boards to increase capacity and tackle the waits, Mr Swinney appeared confident the SNP’s manifesto pledge to “eradicate” year-long waits would be met within months.
“Over the past year we have seen long waits falling with new outpatient waits over 52 weeks reducing for 12 months in a row,” he said.
“The direction of travel is positive, but there is more work to do — I am determined that ending long waits for NHS treatment will be my government’s lasting legacy.
“I have been clear with health boards that I will expect to see month-on-month reductions on the back of this new investment.”
