NHS Highland has described 2025/26 as "a year of stabilisation and readiness", reporting a sharp fall in long waits, a balanced budget and a turnaround in children's mental health services at its annual review in Fort William on Friday. Health Secretary Angela Constance attended the review.

Long waits down sharply

The board said the number of people waiting more than a year for a first outpatient appointment fell from more than 5,000 in April 2025 to 1,051 by the end of March, a fall of almost 80 per cent. Those waiting more than a year for treatment or surgery fell from 925 to 105. Chair Sarah Compton-Bishop said the board had started the year with a gap of £115.6 million between costs and funding, but had met all three of the financial targets set by the Scottish Government and finished the year in balance.

Children's mental health turnaround

Child and adolescent mental health services, which have been under special measures since 2018, beat the target of starting treatment within 18 weeks for 90 per cent of young people, reaching 96.7 per cent in December and 100 per cent in January. NHS Highland covers 42 per cent of Scotland, including some of its most remote communities.

But newer figures show slippage

More recent data suggests the improvement has partly slipped back. The Herald reported that the number of people in Highland waiting more than a year for a first outpatient appointment rose from 951 in March to 1,469 in July, before falling back to 1,122. The paper also reported that the health secretary wrote to the chief executives of NHS Highland, NHS Tayside and NHS Ayrshire and Arran in September, expressing "significant concern" about deteriorating performance on waits of more than a year.