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The exact number of facilities in Scotland that can perform cataract surgery is not centrally held. Table 1 lists NHS hospitals in Scotland where cataract procedures were performed in 2024, as recorded in either the inpatient or outpatient datasets.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all locations in Scotland where cataract procedures are performed. Only locations where procedures were both carried out and recorded are included. Some National Treatment Centres may not appear in the table if they do not have a unique location code or if they operate as extensions of existing locations.

Information on procedures paid for privately, either by the patient or a private insurer, with no NHS involvement, is not available to Public Health Scotland.

Table 1: NHS hospitals where cataract procedures were performed in 2024.

Under the an eligible patient is to start to receive agreed treatment within the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG). Health Boards must take all reasonable steps to ensure they comply with this legislative guarantee.

However, the pandemic has seen the NHS under the most severe pressure in its 77-year existence. Pausing of non-urgent activity has inevitably led to a build-up of both the number of patients waiting for treatment as well as increasing the length of wait for patients.

We know many people are still waiting too long and this is not good enough. We are determined do more and our Budget which will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care, with more than £110 million allocated to health boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations. This includes more than £12 million for ophthalmology.

This funding means 213,000 more appointments will be delivered this year than in 2024-25, exceeding our Programme for Government target of delivering 150,000 extra appointments by more than 60,000. By March 2026, we expect no-one to wait longer than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment, inpatient treatment or day case treatment.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times data mart to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day case under the Treatment Time Guarantee. This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, although the records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, for patients who have completed their wait the procedures that was planned may not always reflect the procedure actually performed after they were admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the national data mart. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail.

More detailed information on the procedures that is planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS boards.

Under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011, an eligible patient is to start to receive agreed treatment within the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG). Health Boards must take all reasonable steps to ensure they comply with this legislative guarantee.

However, the long-term impacts of the pandemic, as well as acute seasonal pressures and unprecedented levels of inflation across the public sector, has seen the NHS under the most severe pressure in its 77-year existence. This has affected almost all aspects of NHS care, including the number of planned care appointments and procedures the health service has been able to provide.

Our Budget will provide more than £110 million to health boards to increase capacity and address backlogs of treatment as we work towards achieving the 12 week TTG.

We have also committed to clearing all waits in all specialities over 52 weeks by March 2026.

The figures quoted in the answer provided to question S6W-38738 on 3 July 2025, included all associated costs for running each leased office building, covering January to December 2024. The total lease cost for each building was included in these figures.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The reason for this is that to locate and retrieve that information we would need to conduct a search of all correspondence received by the Scottish Government.

The information requested is not collected by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Details on how many drones are in operation in NHS Scotland would require to be requested from NHS Boards.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is responsible for setting the strategic policy direction for NHS Scotland and its workforce. Operational matters, including the staffing of individual services, are the responsibility of each NHS Scotland Health Board.

At a local level, the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 places duties on Health Boards to ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent individuals are working in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, wellbeing and safety of patients, the provision of high-quality care and the wellbeing of staff.

The Scottish Government works with a stakeholder group (which includes NHS Education for Scotland, the British Medical Association, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and various Health Board representatives including regional workforce planners) to undertake annual reviews of the number of specialty training places (for resident doctors) needed across all specialties in order to meet anticipated future service demand and consultant need.

Workforce statistics, including statistics on certain roles within ophthalmology services across NHS Scotland, can be found at: .