AN SNP PLEDGE to wipe out NHS waits of more than a year should already have been met, Scottish Labour said today.

Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robison vowed in her budget statement to end year-long waits by March 2026, just two months before the next Holyrood election.

The pledge is a repeat of one made in July 2022 when, in the wake of Public Health Scotland reports that 72,405 people had waited more than a year for a new outpatient appointment, inpatient treatment or day-case treatments.

Despite the SNP government’s claims that such waits would be eliminated by September 2024, the numbers enduring a year-long wait for treatment in fact rocketed by 39 per cent to a staggering 100,968.

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “Boasting to Scots that they will ‘only’ have to wait a year for treatment paid for by their own taxes reveals the deteriorating state of the NHS under the SNP.

“Since the SNP first made its waiting list pledge, the number of Scots waiting more than a year has soared. 

“The reality is that Scotland now has a two-tier health system where thousands of Scots who can no longer bear the pain are raiding their savings to get the treatment they need.

“The SNP must make the most of its windfall from the UK Labour government and reduce waiting times to a timescale that patients can bear.”

SNP Health Secretary Neil Gray responded: “We know many still face unacceptably long waits for treatment and we are currently investing £30 million to drive targeted action across specialities like orthopaedics to address the longest delays.

“We want to make progress on improving our NHS, but to do that, Parliament must back our budget to unlock investment to drive long-term and lasting improvements.”