NHS Highland outpatient waiting times

Information on new outpatient waiting times in NHS Highland

What these statistics show

The following is shown for each specialty:

  • how many patients were seen at an outpatient clinic between 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024
  • median wait – one simple way of explaining this is that roughly half of patients waited less than the median and half of patients waited longer
More information on these statistics

These statistics relate to the wait experienced by patients from 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024 2023 who were:

  • seen at a new outpatient appointment, or
  • admitted for treatment

About the median wait

The median wait aims to provide the typical length of time patients waited to be seen and complete their wait. This is provided for each health board and speciality so that you can get information on the ones relevant to you.

For patients currently on a waiting list, some will have waited less than the median and others will have waited longer. This’ll have been partly influenced by a clinical decision on the urgency of care required.

The wait experienced by patients may vary from the median for a number of reasons, including the:

  • clinical need of the individual
  • availability of services
  • number of patients waiting to be treated

During the pandemic services were often under pressure and only patients with urgent care needs could be treated. This was reflected in shorter median waits. More patients who had their wait delayed are now being seen but waiting time statistics will most likely continue to fluctuate as boards address the backlog of patients waiting for care whilst managing ongoing challenges on capacity.

About the statistics

These statistics are collated and quality assured by Public Health Scotland.

If your waiting time isn’t shown here, please visit the Public Health Scotland website for the full release of national statistics. You can also contact your local health board for further information.

These statistics were gathered from national data on patients who completed their wait for treatment from 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024. The statistics for this period are displayed in weeks.

Statistics are not included if there were less than 20 patients admitted for treatment in the period. This is to make sure that the:

  • risk of revealing information about individual patients is minimised
  • number of cases is high enough to provide meaningful statistics

The next set of statistics will be published on 27 August 2024. This’ll show waiting times from 1 April 2024 to 30 June 2024.

Back to waiting times home page

Waiting times in NHS Highland

Anaesthetics

Number of patients seen:

  • 140

Median waiting times:

  • 8 weeks
Chemical Pathology

Number of patients seen:

  • 26

Median waiting times:

  • 14 weeks
Clinical Oncology

Number of patients seen:

  • 306

Median waiting times:

  • 2 weeks
Ear, Nose and Throat

Number of patients seen:

  • 1181

Median waiting times:

  • 16 weeks
Gastroenterology

Number of patients seen:

  • 378

Median waiting times:

  • 17 weeks
General Surgery

Number of patients seen:

  • 1925

Median waiting times:

  • 4 weeks
GP

Number of patients seen:

  • 61

Median waiting times:

  • 2 weeks
Haematology

Number of patients seen:

  • 64

Median waiting times:

  • 4 weeks
Neurology

Number of patients seen:

  • 326

Median waiting times:

  • 12 weeks
Ophthalmology

Number of patients seen:

  • 1770

Median waiting times:

  • 9 weeks
Orthodontics

Number of patients seen:

  • 148

Median waiting times:

  • 31 weeks
Paediatric Surgery

Number of patients seen:

  • 58

Median waiting times:

  • 19 weeks
Plastic Surgery

Number of patients seen:

  • 57

Median waiting times:

  • 6 weeks
Renal Medicine

Number of patients seen:

  • 46

Median waiting times:

  • 5 weeks
Restorative Dentistry

Number of patients seen:

  • 46

Median waiting times:

  • 48 weeks
Urology

Number of patients seen:

  • 442

Median waiting time:

  • 8 weeks
Cardiology

Number of patients seen:

  • 494

Median waiting times:

  • 6 weeks
Clinical Neurophysiology

Number of patients seen:

  • 313

Median waiting times:

  • 8 weeks
Dermatology

Number of patients seen:

  • 949

Median waiting times:

  • 15 weeks
Endocrinology and Diabetes

Number of patients seen:

  • 209

Median waiting times:

  • 6 weeks
General Medicine

Number of patients seen:

  • 448

Median waiting times:

  • 4 weeks
Geriatric Medicine

Number of patients seen:

  • 166

Median waiting times:

  • 5 weeks
Gynaecology

Number of patients seen:

  • 1167

Median waiting times:

  • 12 weeks
Infectious Diseases

Number of patients seen:

  • 21

Median waiting times:

  • 16 weeks
Neurosurgery

Number of patients seen:

  • 26

Median waiting times:

  • 16 weeks
Oral Surgery

Number of patients seen:

  • 441

Median waiting times:

  • 9 weeks
Orthopaedics

Number of patients seen:

  • 1016

Median waiting times:

  • 26 weeks
Paediatrics

Number of patients seen:

  • 311

Median waiting times:

  • 8 weeks
Rehabilitation Medicine

Number of patients seen:

  • 35

Median waiting times:

  • 27 weeks
Respiratory Medicine

Number of patients seen:

  • 311

Median waiting times:

  • 8 weeks
Rheumatology

Number of patients seen:

  • 150

Median waiting times:

  • 16 weeks

Help and support with waiting times

Your local health board can provide further information on waiting times. You can also contact them if you have any queries around your waiting time.

Contact NHS Highland on:

Waiting well

The waiting well hub has lots of information and tips to support your health and wellbeing while waiting.

Taking steps to improve you health and wellbeing can help you to:

  • ease some symptoms
  • manage your health
  • stop new problems from starting
  • improve your health before your care – this may help you to get better faster

Waiting well

Support your health and wellbeing to be the best it can be if you’re on a waiting list