Health Board “data quality concerns” persist as latest stats update miss off Betsi Cadwaladr again
Welsh Government have still not published treatment waiting lists data – with an issue now taking weeks to resolve due to ‘data quality concerns’ from the local health board.
A suspension on wait list data locally is in place until an “external investigation into the quality and governance of the data is completed”.
In today’s data release it states for October Treatment waiting lists, “Due to data quality concerns, referral to treatment (RTT) data for Betsi Cadwaladr University (BCU) health board have been temporarily suspended. This followed concerns about anomalies in reported waiting list sizes and inconsistencies with operational activity levels.
“A review of data collection and validation processes has established that a cohort of patients – whose pathways had been allocated to independent providers – had not been included in data returns. Some other minor data issues were also identified. BCU is working to correct these issues urgently and our expectation is that BCU and all-Wales reporting will re-start in January 2026.
“It is possible some revisions will subsequently be made to historic BCU data, but investigations suggest these are likely to be small, with a negligible impact on long term trends previously reported.”
Previously the chief statistician has said, “For transparency, our working assumption is that the main issues relate to recent months (particularly August and September), with possible smaller issues earlier in the year. But I should stress that the precise impacts might not be known until a review is complete.”
Earlier this month the other six health boards had data published for September.
Plaid Cymru spokesperson for health and social care, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS commented, “Another month, and yet another publication of some waiting times data hitting record highs – showing clearly Labour’s record of failure in Wales, with patients paying the price.
“The fact that we’re a second month without referral to treatment times data from Betsi Cadwaladr is not good enough. With waiting lists growing in some areas and such little progress in others despite over a billion pounds thrown at bringing down sky-rocketing waiting lists since 2021, the need to see a full picture to scrutinise Labour’s failing record on waiting times and the continued problems in BCU is crucial.
“Plaid Cymru has a clear plan to get our NHS back on track and bring down waiting lists by establishing surgical hubs to get people seen quicker, to speed up referrals and ensure better collaboration between health boards to share resources.
“After 26 years of Labour failing to get to grips with the NHS, a Plaid Cymru government will bring fresh ideas and new leadership that our health service desperately needs.”
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