Data regarding inpatient and diagnostic testing: FOI release

Information requested

Data used to support figures highlighted by the First Minister in a statement made at First Minister's Questions on 23 September.

Response

For Outpatients, please see the details available through this link to Public Health Scotland’s website: https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/8811/newop_aug21.xlsx, which shows that 257,576 new outpatients were waiting to be seen at 31 March 2020 compared to 326,099 waiting at 30 September 2018, a 21.0% reduction. These details also show that over that same period, the numbers who were waiting over 12 weeks for their outpatient appointment fell by over 32%. At 31 March 2020, 65,516 new outpatients were waiting over 12 weeks compared to 96,829 waiting at 30 September 2018, a 32.3% reduction.

For Diagnostics Tests, again please see the following links: https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/6025/2020-11-24-diagnostic-tests-november20.xls and https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/9612/2021-08-31-diagnostic-tests-aug21.xls, which show that 13,500 patients were waiting over 6 weeks for one of the eight key diagnostic tests at 29 February 2020 compared to 18,887 patients waiting at 30 September 2018, a 28.5% reduction.

About FOI
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