All forthcoming outputs will be published at 9.30am unless otherwise stated.
Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland surveillance report - This weekly release by Public Health Scotland presents epidemiological information on respiratory infection activity, including COVID-19, across Scotland. Due to the dynamic nature of all datasets included in this report, figures contained within each update may be subject to change in future releases. Any revised figures will then be reflected within the latest update.
Between 26 March and 8 October 2026, PHS are reducing the frequency of the Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland narrative report to four-weekly. PHS will move to weekly dashboard only updates for respiratory infection surveillance until 23 April 2026. Both the Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland narrative report and COVID-19 & respiratory surveillance in Scotland interactive dashboard will then move to four-weekly reporting until 8 October 2026. This approach aligns to the pre-pandemic one for respiratory pathogens, which typically follow a seasonal pattern. PHS will continue to monitor COVID-19 and other respiratory infection levels and reinstate the weekly narrative report before 8 October 2026 if necessary.
General Practice in-hours activity visualisation - preannounced for 7 April 2026 and other monthly releases have been paused. There have been data quality issues following GPIT migrations from EMIS to Vision. This has impacted the data extraction process and the accuracy of the encounters data received by PHS. The publication is paused until a technical solution is identified and appropriate data quality checks implemented/data is restored to a suitable quality for publication.
Scottish cervical screening programme statistics - Public Health Scotland provides a range of annual statistics relating to the Scottish cervical screening programme, including coverage and uptake by deprivation and age group. In addition, information on laboratory services is available. On 28 May 2025 Scott Heald wrote to Ed Humpherson to request a temporary suspension of the accredited official statistics status for PHS cervical screening statistics following identification of data quality issues. We published data in a new report on 29 July 2025 and have continued to work with the data supplier to finalise 2024/25 data and resolve data issues. This publication was released on 24 February 2026.
Stage of treatment waiting times – new outpatients, inpatients and day cases – The monthly publication on planned care waiting times has been renamed from ‘NHS waiting times – stage of treatment’ to the above title, providing consistency across corresponding outputs. A supplementary PHS impact assessment, covering the year 2025/26, is scheduled for publication on 28 April 2026, to help users of the data understand the impact of the updated guidance issued by the Scottish Government on official statistics when interpreting the latest trends.
Scottish breast screening programme statistics - pre announced for September 2025 and then delayed to December 2025 due to data quality concerns has been delayed further. Once this work has been carried out the publication will be released as soon as possible. Users should be aware that the previously published statistics have errors. Please see correspondence from 24 February for more details. We will provide a further update to this note on 26 May 2026. If you have questions about this work, please email phs.adultscreening@phs.scot.
Scottish Health Service Costs - pre announced for March 2026 has been delayed to allow for local implementation of new financial software and quality assurance checks. Once completed the publication will be updated and released as soon as possible. Please see correspondence from 24 February for more details.
Early Learning and Childcare: Analysis of family wellbeing - pre announced for 21 April 2026 has been delayed until Summer 2026 to allow for additional quality assurance checks. A new date will be preannounced 4-6 weeks ahead of publication.
Women's Health in Scotland - An Evidence Briefing and Health and Homelessness Briefing - these reports both pre announced for 14 April 2026 contain research findings and policy recommendations and will therefore now be published on 12 May 2026 when the pre-election period is over.
