If the proposed Budget passes Parliament, £200 million can be expected to go towards clearing waiting list backlogs, improving capacity, and increasing turnover efficiency, stopping patients from spending more time than needed in hospital.

This proposed funding will allow for the treatment of more than 150,000 patients treated and expand the Hospital at Home programme by 600 beds.

This Scottish Budget, should it be approved, will invest a record £21 billion in Health & Social care, delivering £16.2 billion for NHS Boards, £2.2 billion for Primary Care services, £3 million to create additional dental training places, among other initiatives.

“This Budget has improving our NHS at its very heart and sees record funding of £21 billion for the health and social care portfolio. We are determined to improve NHS performance and our planned investment of £200 million to help clear long waits and improve capacity will help drive that vital progress. We are increasing funding for Primary Care by 7.9% to more than £2.2 billion – this will help increase access and capacity, including delivering additional support for General Practice, a critical dental workforce and training package and enhancements to community eyecare,

“It is absolutely vital we ensure people have access to high-quality health, mental health, and social care services when and where they need them – that is why we are increasing our capital spending power by £139 million in 2025-26.

“These measures are key in driving forward our vision of a Scotland where people live longer, healthier and fulfilling lives. The funding outlined will support NHS reform and our efforts to improve population health with a focus on prevention and early intervention.

“We want to make progress on improving our NHS, but to do that, Parliament must approve our Budget Bill to unlock investment to drive long-term and lasting improvements – and the healthier population - that we all want to see.”