NHS waiting lists on the rise again in Wales

NHS waiting lists have risen again in Wales and the longest waiting times have also increased, new official data shows. At the same time, ambulance handover delays at hospital emergency departments have fallen substantially.

- By ABBIE WIGHTWICK

Around 614,300 individual patients were on treatment waiting lists in Wales in May, latest official Welsh Government data revealed on July 24. There were just over 796,100 referral to treatment patient pathways waiting to start treatment in May, a rise of around 6,200 since April.

The number of patient pathways is not the same as the number of individual patients, because some people have multiple pathways open for treatment.

The number waiting longer than 36 weeks increased to just under 274,800 and just under 10,300 were waiting more than two years, a 6.5% increase from the previous month.

The average time patients had been waiting for treatment at the end of May was 0.5 weeks lower than the previous month at 22 weeks.

There were just over 75,500 pathways waiting longer than one year for their first outpatient appointment, an increase from the previous month, but 26.4% less than the peak in August 2022, the report adds.

When waiting times increased in April, Health Minister Jeremy Miles blamed the Easter break, but problems have continued, the figures show.

On a more positive note, the overall time the Welsh Ambulance Service waits to transfer patients to staff at hospital emergency department fell by more than 87% in June compared with May, with almost three-quarters of people transferred in just 15 minutes.

Two health boards saw the biggest improvements. Handover waits in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg and Swansea Bay health boards plunged in June. They were down from nearly 2,000 hours to just over 600 in Cwm Taf Morgannwg, and from nearly 2,500 to just under 800 in Swansea Bay.