NHS waiting list rises for third month in a row

Mark Mansfield

The number of people waiting for NHS treatment in Wales has risen for a third consecutive month, while emergency departments recorded their busiest month on record.

New Welsh Government figures show there were around 547,500 individual patients on treatment waiting lists at the end of June, with just under 698,400 patient pathways awaiting treatment – an increase of around 8,700 in a month.

Provisional figures suggest the total number of pathways rose further to around 709,700 by the end of July, although the figures are subject to revision.

Pressure was also evident in emergency departments, which recorded just under 104,100 attendances during July – an average of 3,357 a day and the highest number on record.

Just over 15,200 patients were admitted to hospital after attending a major emergency department, 5.6% more than during June.

However, there were some improvements in waiting times.

In July, 64.1% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged from emergency departments within four hours, an improvement on June but still well below the 95% target.

The median time spent in emergency departments fell by four minutes to two hours and 57 minutes, while 11,717 patients waited 12 hours or more – 103 fewer than the previous month.

There was also a mixed picture for planned treatment.

Although the overall waiting list increased in June, the number of pathways waiting more than a year fell by 2.5% to just over 95,100.

Just under 4,100 had been waiting for more than two years, down 3% in a month and 94.2% below the peak recorded in March 2022.

But provisional July figures indicate two-year waits have since risen again to around 4,700.

The proportion of pathways waiting less than 26 weeks increased to 66%, its highest level since May 2020, while just under 169,200 had been waiting more than 36 weeks.

Diagnostic waiting lists

Elsewhere, diagnostic waiting lists increased by 4.3% to just under 120,300 in June, with more than 39,100 waiting longer than the eight-week target.

Therapy waiting lists reached a record high of just under 64,100, while almost 6,300 pathways had exceeded the 14-week target.

Cancer performance improved but remained below the Welsh Government target.

A total of 2,129 patients started their first definitive cancer treatment in June, 179 more than in May. Some 59.2% began treatment within 62 days of cancer first being suspected, against a target of at least 75%.

Ambulance figures showed a median response of seven minutes and 39 seconds for the most serious “purple” calls involving cardiac and respiratory arrests, meeting the six-to-eight-minute target.

The median response for “red” emergency calls was nine minutes and 13 seconds, meaning the target was missed.

‘Stark’

Health Minister Mabon ap Gwynfor acknowledged the scale of the problems facing the service.

He said: “The statistics are stark, and I won’t pretend otherwise. Performance on overall waiting times is nowhere near where it should be.

“The people of Wales deserve better, and as a new Government we are working at pace to build an NHS in Wales where people are seen and treated much more quickly than today.

“Behind every number in the latest statistics is someone waiting and wanting answers. That is why tackling the waiting list backlog is my absolute number one priority.”

Mr ap Gwynfor said he had recently announced an additional £145m for the NHS and would set out plans in the coming weeks for how the money would be used to tackle waiting lists and waiting times.

The figures also reveal significant differences between health boards.

Betsi Cadwaladr had the highest proportion of treatment pathways waiting more than one and two years, while Cardiff and Vale had the highest proportion of first outpatient appointments waiting more than a year.

For emergency departments, Aneurin Bevan recorded the best performance against the four-hour target at 72.1%, compared with 57.6% at Cwm Taf Morgannwg.

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