NHS waiting times: 'I'd have been 90 by the time I got my new hip'

Cathrin Lloyd-Williams had already waited more than three years for a new hip. Then Covid-19 struck.

The 85-year-old's hip surgery is one of the 164,000 procedures in Wales that have waiting lists longer than a year.

Just two years ago, before the pandemic, that figure was less than 7,000.

And with NHS Wales predicting it could take another three years to get waiting times for most treatments below 12 months, Ms Lloyd-Williams said she had "no option" but to pay for private care.

The Welsh government is due to publish its plan to tackle the backlog built up during the Covid pandemic on Tuesday.

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