Up to 18,000 Scots could have to travel outside their health board to access specialised care because the SNP failed to build National Treatment Centres (NTCs) they promised in these areas, according to research from the Scottish Conservatives.
Data obtained by the party under freedom of information laws reveals that Ayrshire and Arran, Grampian, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside NHS boards have been “allocated” 17,964 procedures at NTCs in Clydebank, Inverness and Kirkcaldy for 2025-26 by the SNP government.
Failure to build these centres means up to 2,239 patients in NHS Grampian could be forced to travel to the Golden Jubilee in West Dunbartonshire, with a further 2,423 having to travel to Inverness.
5,955 patients in Lothian Health board could be forced to travel across the country to the Golden Jubilee, whilst 722 patients in Tayside face a long journey up to Inverness.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP slammed the SNP for their failure to build the NTCs promised, and forcing NHS patients who need urgent treatment to travel vast distances to access healthcare.
Scottish Conservative shadow health and social care secretary Sandesh Gulhane MSP said: “Neil Gray’s failure to get these centres up and running is forcing NHS patients to travel vast distances to access healthcare.
“This is yet another broken promise from the SNP when it comes to the health service. They must get these centres built as a matter of urgency.
“If they are to be paused even further or mothballed, then the consequences will be devastating for the patients already languishing on intolerable waiting lists under the SNP.
“Patients in many parts of Scotland are facing a double whammy of huge delays for treatment in the first place, and then having to travel a vast distance when it finally is offered – with some travelling hundreds of miles to be seen.
“We warned that the SNP wouldn’t deliver on these National Treatment Centres. John Swinney needs to back our plans to cut waste and bureaucracy in the NHS, so that more resources can be directed towards providing patients with the care they need here in Scotland.”
Notes to editors
National Treatment Centres (NTCs) are a network of healthcare facilities across Scotland that provide additional capacity for the NHS. They provide general surgery as well as endoscopy, ophthalmology and orthopaedic procedures. (NHS Inform, Accessed 13 August 2025, link).
Construction of NTCs at Livingston, Perth, Aberdeen, Ayr and Cumbernauld have all been paused indefinitely. The first four were meant to be finished this year, with the Cumbernauld NTC expected in 2026, but the Scottish Government said this summer that there would be no update on the future of these centres until December. (BBC News, 4 August 2022, link; BBC News, 30 June 2025, link).
Up to 17,964 patients could have to travel outside their health board for specialised procedures. Up to 2,239 patients in NHS Grampian could have to travel to the Golden Jubilee in Clydebank, with a further 2,423 having to travel to Inverness. 5,955 patients in the Lothian Health board could be forced to travel to the Golden Jubilee, whilst 722 patients in Tayside may be told to travel to Inverness. (Scottish Conservative FOI, Available on Request).