Plaid Cymru unveil plan to tackle NHS waiting lists

Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, Health and Social Care Spokesperson for Plaid Cymru, will today (14th January 2025) unveil his party’s short-term plan to tackle NHS waiting lists and treatment backlog.

The announcement comes amidst ongoing concerns as NHS waiting lists in Wales have hit record high every month since March 2024, surpassing 800,000 in October, with around 620,300 people awaiting treatment.

Of this number, 172,777 were waiting more than a year, and 24,202 were waiting more than two years.

Plaid Cymru has proposed that their government would establish surgical hubs, amongst other measures, to tackle huge waiting lists in the Welsh NHS.

Short-term plan

Plaid Cymru’s plan outlines several immediate actions the party would take in the first days of government.

These include establishing regional elective care hubs across Wales, as well as a ‘refreshed approach’ to waiting list planning by matching staffing levels with waiting list demands.

The plan also suggests improving the referral process by introducing an Executive Triage Service, to provide existing GPs with better support in managing patients along the referral pathway.

Other aspects of the proposed plan include improved collaboration between regional health boards, and developed use of technology for quicker assessment of symptoms.

Waiting lists

Mr ap Gwynfor stated, “Plaid Cymru’s plan to tackle the backlog and bring waiting lists down shows that we are serious about fixing the NHS.”

“On day one, a Plaid Cymru government will take immediate steps to improve the treatment referrals process by establishing an executive triage service; ensure greater collaboration between health boards to identify capacity for appointments; take advantage of technology and telemedicine to get people’s symptoms assessed quicker; match staff to the demands of waiting lists in different specialities; and finally – introduce temporary surgical hubs across Wales to get people treated.”

‘High quality care’

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “NHS Wales works hard to deliver high quality care and progress has been made to reduce the longest waiting times for treatment.

“We have invested an additional £50m to support health boards to continue to do this and more than £600m in extra revenue and capital funding has been allocated for health and social care in our draft budget.

“Over two-year waits have fallen by almost two-thirds since their peak during the pandemic. Diagnostic waits over 8 weeks have reduced by 35% from their peak”

“The number of specialities with long waits have also reduced to 22 down from 34 in April 2022, when the planned care recovery plan was launched.”

“The average wait time form referral to treatment has fallen from 29 weeks to just under 23 weeks”