Waiting times are important to patients and are a measure of how the NHS is responding to demands for services. Measuring and regular reporting of waiting times highlights where there are delays in the system and enables monitoring of the effectiveness of NHS performance throughout the country. The NHS in Scotland has been set a number of targets for maximum waiting times. The Scottish Government continues to be committed to improving information on waiting to provide a clear and transparent picture of NHS performance.

The waiting times section of the ISD website provides the latest information about NHS waiting times in Scotland based on nationally available information.

 Waiting times information release on 27th May 2008, including information on waiting times for:

• An outpatient appointment *
• Inpatient or day case admission *
• Discharge, admission or transfer for patients attending accident & emergency
• Surgery following a hip fracture
• A diagnostic test
• A cataract procedure *
• A cardiac procedure *

A  Statistical Publication Notice explains the key points from the 27th May 2008 release.

This release contains the first publication of data following the introduction of 'New Ways of Defining and Measuring Waiting Times' on 1st January 2008. The statistics marked with an asterisk in the above list are derived from the New Ways compliant Waiting Times Data Warehouse and are classed as 'provisional'.

'New Ways of Defining and Measuring Waiting Times' introduced a significant change in how the NHSScotland collects and defines waiting times, and also how waiting lists are clinically and administratively managed.

New Ways:

Introduces nationally-consistent arrangements that take periods of patient unavailablity into account when measuring and reporting waiting times:

• Introduces a way of dealing fairly and appropriately with patients who do not attend appointments or who refuse a reasonable offer of an appointment
• Makes explicit the shared responsibility of patients, GPs and hospital services to communicate changes in circumstances to facilitate efficient management of waiting and scheduling of care and to keep patients informed of their waiting status
• Replaces the system of 'Availablity Status Codes'

Further information on New Ways

Notice of change to National Statistics

Information on how this release of waiting times data differs from previous releases is provided in the papers National Statistics Notice of Change and  Statistical Continuity .

National Statistics is a quality marker applied to statistics certified by the UK Statistics Authority as compliant with its Code of Practice for Statistics. The "List of Tables" page indicates which statistics within this section are National Statistics.