Scotland is already trailing behind England when it comes to elective NHS activity and clearing the backlog of very long waits for treatment - but the gap might be about to get even wider. England's new health secretary, Wes Streeting, has set his sights on clearing waiting lists completely within the next five years through a combination of evening and weekend clinics plus greater use of the private sector. The scale of the challenge was laid bare on Thursday when the latest statistics for NHS England noted that there were 7.
6 million people waiting for inpatient or day case procedures in hospital as of May this year. Around 307,500 patients had already been waiting more than a year. READ MORE: Elderly people in Sweden don't sell their homes for care - how did they do it? Is this beginning of the end for general practice - or a turning point? Inside the NHS: What are we willing to cut to keep health service alive? By the end of the current parliament, the Labour government has promised that it will once again hit the 18 week referral-to-treatment target - something not achieved since 2015.
In England, that means ensuring at least 92% of people referred for non-urgent, elective care (such as cataract surgery or a knee replacement) wait no longer than 18 weeks. As of May this year, that was being achieved for just 59% of patients. Scotland uses a more ambitious 12-week "treatment time guarantee" - covering 100% of patients - but this was last met in 2012.
By the beginning of t.