More than 300,000 outpatient appointments have been missed across cash-strapped NHS Grampian in just over three years, according to new figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives.
The figures show 309,429 appointments were marked as “did not attend” between 2023/24 and the first part of 2026/27 — 5.27% of the 5,864,232 total bookings.
Using NHS’s Grampian’s own figures for consultant-led outpatient appointments, this would arrive at a notional cost to clinical activity of almost £100 million.
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary saw the largest number of missed appointments (76,297) compared with Dr Gray’s in Elgin (17,537)) and Inverurie Health and Care Hub (5,641).
Scottish Conservative North East MSP Liam Kerr said:
“Everyone will have a friend or family member who is on a years-long waiting list for treatment, often for very serious and life-limiting conditions.
“It is for those people we need to get the system working.
“Most people would be embarrassed, to say the least, that their missing an appointment has stopped a specialist getting to see someone else who’s in need — who can shorten that waiting list or perhaps get a priority patient in at short notice when a cancellation is done properly.
“NHS Grampian could fill and staff whole hospitals with the number of people and costs this involves.
“But we know this isn’t all on the patients. The financial background Grampian is operating in after years of financial mismanagement and underfunding by the SNP government is appalling.”
NHS Grampian owes the Scottish Government £90m in outstanding loans accumulated from previous years, it still has to find another £40m in savings this year while borrowing another £36m.
Mr Kerr added:
“The fact is Scottish Ministers must change their government’s hands-off approach to NHS Grampian, take responsibility for its failures up to now, and do the job they were elected to do.”
