Wales hospital waiting times hit new record high

Performance against a four-hour target wait in A&E is worsening

The waiting list for hospital treatment in Wales has reached another record high, with about a fifth of the Welsh population waiting to be seen.

The latest figures show that in May 2024 there were 611,500 individual patients waiting for just over 787,900 treatments to take place, both record figures.

This is the fourth month in a row where the list has grown, and the number of people waiting more than two years for treatment has increased for the second month in a row.

The Welsh government said that “overall this is another disappointing set of NHS performance figures".

In May there were 22,500 so-called incomplete patient pathways of 24 months or more, despite a plan by the Labour Welsh government plan to eliminate two-year waits by March 2023.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "The health secretary (Eluned Morgan) has made it clear to health boards that she expects to see progress – and sustained progress – to reduce long waits and waiting times for treatments.”

The situation in emergency care varied, with performance against a four-hour target wait in A&E worsening, but performance on 12-hour waits improving.

Some 46.5% of the most urgent 999 calls for an ambulance were met within eight minutes, an improvement on the previous month, but still well below the 65% target which has not been met for three years.

Prof Jon Barry, director in Wales at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: “With the waiting list now at another record high, patients in Wales continue to be let down.

"A worrying number have also been left to wait for years.

"We are concerned about the disruption this is causing to their lives and the risk that their condition may deteriorate while they wait."

Welsh Conservative health spokesman Sam Rowlands said: “These abysmal statistics show Labour's performance on health continues to get worse here in Wales."

He said the Welsh government had "consistently missed targets" and claimed it was not just the legacy of First Minister Vaughan Gething - who resigned earlier this week after several controversies - "but the result of 25 years of Labour mismanaging the Welsh NHS".