First Minister John Swinney, has visited Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to hear how key services are helping to drive down waiting times and improve access to healthcare. These services include the Chest X-Ray AI system, the frailty service and Hospital at Home.
Figures for long waits for appointments and treatment are continuing to fall across Scotland. The latest data from Public Health Scotland shows that across all health boards, new outpatient waiting times over 52 weeks have fallen by as much as 90 per cent in some specialities over the past six months, and waits for paediatric surgery have reduced by nearly 60 per cent.
In NHS Grampian, new outpatient waits over a year have fallen by as much as 84.6 per cent for ophthalmology and 82% for gynaecology since July 2025.
Swinney said: “Our plan is delivering a better NHS for the people of Scotland. In the last year we have seen real, sustained progress - month after month. Activity is up, long waits are down and the hard work of all our NHS teams is delivering real, measurable change. I want to deeply thank each and every one of them for their continued efforts.
“Substantial progress has been reported across every health board, and across key specialties where funding has been targeted this year. In some areas we’ve seen long waits for new outpatients falling by as much as 100%, with thousands more people being treated.
“I am determined to drive further progress and ensure services continue to be accessible, efficient, and better tailored to people’s needs -whether at home, in the community, or in hospital. The work I have seen at NHS Grampian is an excellent example of the kind of innovation which is helping us to deliver better care for everyone in Scotland.”
Chief Executive of NHS Grampian Laura Skaife-Knight said: "It was a pleasure to welcome the First Minister to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary today to share our progress, including how we are reducing waiting times for our patients supported by Scottish Government funding.
"The visit was an opportunity for the First Minister to see first-hand the excellent work our teams are doing, our improvements in action and our focus on delivering the best possible care and services for our patients and communities.
"Partnership working and digitisation are important enablers for transformation, and I'm pleased that the First Minister had the opportunity to hear about some of the innovative work we are doing here in Grampian."
