THE LATEST NHS statistics for Wales revealed an increase in the number waiting for treatment to the highest level for the ninth consecutive month, an increase in waits of two years or more and a worsening of both the A&E and ambulance figures.
NUMBERS REVEAL SCALE OF CRISIS
The number of patient pathways increased from 801,307 in September to 802,132 in October, the highest figure on record. That number represents the equivalent of over a quarter of the Welsh population.
The estimated number of patients has increased to 620,300 waiting for treatment in October.
Two-year waits have increased to 24,202 in Wales. When she was Health Minister, Eluned Morgan promised to eliminate these waits by March 2023 and again by March 2024. However, the Welsh Government is nowhere near eliminating two-year waits, and it is unlikely to do so in this Senedd term.
At the end of October, the average (median) time patient pathways had been waiting for treatment was 22.9 weeks (an increase from last month)
In November, only 47.6% of red calls (the most serious) received an emergency ambulance response within eight minutes, a fall in performance from 50.5%.
As of October, performance against the 62-day target for patients starting cancer treatment is now 58%, well below the target of 85%.
In November, the proportion of patients waiting less than 4 hours in A&E fell to 67.6% – the target is 95%.
9,766 patients waited 12 hours or more in Welsh A&E departments in November – the target is zero patients.
WELSH NHS “IS NOT BEYOND REPAIR”
James Evans MS, the new Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, said: “Nowhere else is it clearer than in the Welsh NHS that Wales, under Labour, is broken.
“The Welsh Labour Government had promised not just reductions to the ever-growing list, but the elimination of the longest waits, of over two years, but they’ve broken their promise as patients continue to wait in pain for treatment.
“This situation is a crisis, but the NHS isn’t beyond repair. The Welsh Conservatives will bring forward a plan to fix the Welsh NHS, to improve outcomes for patients and boost morale for staff.”
Faced with the monthly task of turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Miles, said: “Reducing the longest waiting times is a priority for me, and we have invested an additional £50m to support health boards.
“Overall, two-year waits for treatment are now almost two-thirds lower than at their peak during the pandemic. We expect to see these fall markedly over the coming months as we start to see the impact of the additional £50m to reduce long waiting times.
“The number of pathways waiting longer than a year for a first outpatient appointment increased in October to just over 81,000, but this is still a fifth lower than the peak in August 2022.
“Emergency care services continue to be extremely busy with nearly 6,000 immediately life-threatening ‘red’ calls to the ambulance service in November – the highest daily average (198) on record and the highest ever number of these calls were reached within eight minutes.
“Urgent and emergency care services are also under significant pressure, but there was an improvement in performance against the 12-hour target.
“There was also an improvement in cancer performance in October, with the proportion starting treatment within 62 days increasing to 58%, from 55% in September. More than 2,000 people started treatment, and more than 15,500 people received the good news they did not have cancer.
“Long waits for diagnostics and therapies services were reduced in November, and the number of hospital discharge delays was further reduced. This is the third month in a row the total number of delays has fallen, and November’s figure was the lowest in 2024.”
