NHS waiting lists in Scotland have increased, with the number of inpatients waiting more than a year for treatment up by a quarter.

Statistics released by Public Health Scotland on the number of people waiting for outpatient, inpatient or day case treatment – or one of the eight key diagnostic tests – show the figure increased to 840,300 in the quarter up to the end of March.

This is an increase from 824,725 at the end of 2023 – a rise of 1.8%.

Of those, 534,178 were waiting for outpatient treatment – up by 10% from the same point last year and more than double the size of the list before the pandemic.

For inpatient treatment, 156,108 were waiting – a slight decrease from the previous quarter, but up 5.8% from last year and more than double the average waiting times in 2019.

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