NHS waiting list shrinks in Wales, but cancer and A&E targets missed

The number of people waiting more than two years for NHS treatment in Wales has fallen by two-thirds over the past four months, with new figures showing 8,400 such cases by the end of March – the lowest level since April 2021.

The drop follows targeted action by NHS Wales, including expanded evening and weekend clinics, increased cooperation between health boards, and a £50 million investment in improving access to planned care, diagnostics and children’s neurodevelopmental services.

Jeremy Miles MS, the Health Secretary, praised progress made in tackling long waits:

“The latest NHS performance figures show long waiting times are now at their lowest levels since April 2021 and the overall size of the waiting list has fallen for four months in a row,” he said.

“I would particularly like to praise Swansea Bay and Hywel Dda university health boards, which have joined Powys Health Board in having no patients waiting more than a year for a first outpatient appointment or two years for treatment.”

According to the Welsh Government, the £50m boost to health boards has supported 5,143 additional treatments, 2,160 diagnostic tests, over 6,000 outpatient appointments and 2,166 neurodevelopmental assessments.

Cancer care also showed signs of improvement, with 63.5% of patients starting treatment within the 62-day target window – the best performance since August 2021.

However, despite these gains, critics say the Labour-led Welsh Government is still failing to meet its own targets across several key measures.

Rhian Stangroom-Teel, External Affairs Manager at Cancer Research UK in Wales, said:

“Despite some improvements in March, cancer waiting times in Wales remain unacceptably long. Worse still, people are being hit harder because of who they are or where they live… Time is ticking and there is only a year left to reach the Welsh Government’s goal of 80% of patients starting treatment on time.”

Plaid Cymru’s health spokesperson, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, was sharply critical of the Welsh Government’s handling of NHS performance:

“Hundreds of thousands of people on waiting lists, over 8,000 of those waiting over two years. The fact that any Government is trying to claim that as a win, is a sign of how far down the road of Labour mismanagement we are,” he said.

“Even after moving the goalposts from their original target of eradicating two-year waits in 2023, Labour have still managed to miss their targets… An NHS run into the ground, and waiting lists as long as this simply isn’t as good as it gets for Wales.”

Official performance data released on 22 May shows multiple long-standing NHS targets still being missed:

71,000 people were waiting more than a year for a first outpatient appointment, against a target to eliminate such waits by 2022.

35,200 diagnostic and 4,000 therapy patient pathways exceeded the expected maximum waiting times.

Over 268,000 patients had waited more than 36 weeks for treatment, 34% of the total list.

Just 50.9% of ‘red’ 999 calls were answered within eight minutes, falling short of the 65% target.

Mr Miles said the government’s next goal is to eliminate all two-year waits and cut the waiting list by 200,000 by the end of 2025. “This is an ambitious aim and will require hard work over the coming year from everyone in the health service,” he said.

With the Senedd election approaching in 2026, health is likely to be a central issue.

Plaid Cymru has said it will offer a “credible plan” to reduce waiting lists and reform the NHS in Wales.