The additional funding will support the delivery of more outpatient appointments and inpatient/day case procedures across a variety of specialities including orthopaedics, dermatology, general surgery and gynaecology. Cardiology and paediatrics will also get extra funding.

This new support takes total additional investment to £135.5m in 2025-26 to help the NHS maintain progress on reducing waiting lists. Recent figures show the total list size and longest waits are coming down. There has also been an increase of more than 31,000 appointments and procedures from April to September this year compared to same period in 2024.

The First Minister said: ‘The latest figures show our plan to support Scotland's NHS is working, delivering real benefits for patients. We have already provided £110m of additional targeted funding this year to tackle the longest waits. Now we are providing a further boost to deliver more appointments and procedures, taking the total additional funding to £135.5m for 2025-26.'