Welsh Government announces funding package to help cut waiting times

The Welsh Government has today announced a £120m package to fund Wales’  plans to cut waiting times and NHS waiting lists this year.

Health Secretary Jeremy Miles said the new funding will support Wales health service to build on the progress made to date to reduce the longest waits for planned treatment.

The new Planned Care Recovery plan sets out the Welsh Government’s ambition to reduce the overall size of the waiting list by 200,000, eliminate all two-year waits and reduce diagnostic wait times to under 8 weeks by March 2026.

Jeremy Miles said: “Tackling waiting times is our number one priority.

“We have seen long waiting times fall by two-thirds over the last four months. We will build on this progress and go further.

“This additional funding will help deliver what people want – faster access to treatment.”

Appointments

It’s hoped the new funding will provide more outpatient appointments, more diagnostic tests and more treatments, including more than 20,000 cataract operations.

Alongside the new money, all health boards will be expected to make changes to how they provide services to increase productivity and efficiency and to reduce variation.

The funding comes as the Welsh Government announced the latest NHS Wales performance data.

Swansea Bay and Powys health boards have no pathways waiting longer than two years and no one-year waits for a first outpatient appointment.

Hywel Dda and Aneurin Bevan university health boards each have fewer than 300 patient pathways waiting more than two years for treatment making up less than 1% of their waiting list.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has the most pathways waiting more than two years for treatment in Wales.

While there was a growth in the number of the people waiting more than two years for treatment compared to the March figures, long waits are now 86% lower than they were at their peak. April’s figure is the second lowest since April 2021.

‘Disappointing’

Mr Miles said: “It is disappointing to see the increase in long waits in April after all the progress health boards have made over the last few months.

“However, this is an annual trend seen in April in Wales and also the other UK nations.

“This is why we are making changes to how the NHS provides planned care and are investing £120m to bring down waiting times this year.

“We will continue to work with the NHS to improve access to care because we know how important it is for people to get treatment as soon as possible.

“This new funding will mean more and faster appointments, tests and treatments over the next 12 months.

“We’re asking people to do all they can to support the NHS by keeping their appointment and making sure they are fit and ready for treatment.”

‘Low bar’

The Welsh Conservatives say the Welsh Government is setting the bar “lower and lower”.

James Evans, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said: “We’ll believe it when we see it. Though Labour is setting the bar lower and lower, only to fall short year after year.

“The First Minister first promised to eliminate two-year waits when she was the Health Minister over two years ago, yet you’re still five hundred times more likely to wait over two years on a waiting list in Wales than in England.

“Now it’s only Labour’s ‘ambition’ to eliminate long waits.

“The Welsh Conservatives are clear, no one should even be waiting a year for treatment.

“We can achieve this by declaring a health emergency and ensuring that sufficient resources and the entire apparatus of Government is directed at the NHS and away from costly vanity projects.”

‘Sticking plaster’

Plaid Cymru says that with over 9,600 waiting over two years for treatment, patients are “paying the price” for the Welsh Government’s “sticking plaster solutions”.

Health spokesperson Mabon ap Gwynfor said: “Even after making tackling NHS waiting lists their primary focus in government, these statistics speak for themselves: Labour have no clue what they’re doing. Over 600,000 individuals still waiting for a referral for treatment overall is a damning indictment of 26 years of Labour mismanagement and incompetence when it comes to the NHS.

“A Plaid Cymru government would take action to not only tackle NHS waiting times with our credible plan, but change how the NHS is run in the long term to make it more efficient – with a strong focus on preventative health to stop people from getting sick in the first place.

“That is what Plaid Cymru offers in 2026, to fix our NHS, ensure staff are supported, and give patients the service they deserve.”