Boost staff morale and hospital discharges to tackle waiting times, surgeons warn

Surgeons have warned that the rising number of patient pathways on the list for treatment in Wales and substantial winter pressures on staff must serve as a wake-up call for the Welsh government and NHS leaders to accelerate the pace of change.

Figures released by Stats Wales today show that hospital waiting lists continue to rise in Wales, reaching 764,465 in October 2023. There are now 447,805 patients waiting up to 26 weeks, up from 441,720 in September, while 231,928 are waiting more than 26 weeks, compared to 229,154 in September 2023. However, the latest figures show slight improvements, with 84,732 patients in Wales waiting 26 to 36 weeks for treatment, compared to 90,237 in September 2023.

Responding to the figures, Professor Jon Barry, Director in Wales at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, urged the Government to gather speed in the development of more surgical hubs across Wales.

“It is great that the Government has taken the surgical hub model on board, and we hope to see more of them up and running soon. Accelerating the progress of surgical hubs will help cut waiting times and make an enormous difference to patients’ lives. Surgical hubs allow us to separate planned care from emergency services, meaning there is less risk of hospital beds being reallocated to emergency patients when pressures mount.”

Professor Barry also warned that a bottleneck in discharging patients from hospitals is putting people at risk and services under extreme pressure. “The issues facing the NHS in Wales are wide-ranging but primarily stem from high demand for beds and the complexities involved in discharging medically fit patients.

“Unnecessarily long stays in hospital due to delayed discharge place patients at risk of infections or deterioration whilst awaiting discharge. The bottleneck at the point of discharge has a knock-on impact on emergency departments, ambulance response times, inpatient care, and planned admissions.

“Patients are not receiving the care they need in a timely and appropriate manner as delayed discharges affect patient flow through the healthcare system. The NHS needs to work as effectively as possible to address poor flow and achieve better outcomes for patients in Wales.”

Notes to editors: 

1. Full, historical Stats Wales Referral to Treatment Waiting Times can be found here: https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Health-and-Social-Care/NHS-Hospital-Waiting-Times/Referral-to-Treatment/patientpathwayswaitingtostarttreatment-by-month-groupedweeks
2. NHS activity and performance summary: October and November 2023: NHS activity and performance summary: October and November 2023 | GOV.WALES
3. In March 2016, Stats Wales changed some of the terminology used in referral to treatment reporting. Previously, when publishing these statistics, they used the terminology patients. However, now, it is possible that a person could be on several different lists waiting for different conditions – i.e., there would be one patient but more than one pathway. Due to the RTT dataset being an aggregate data collection, Stats Wales says they are not able to measure the number of unique patients. Therefore, they are using the terminology ‘patient pathways,’ to reflect the fact that one person can be on multiple waiting lists. See more information here.
4. The Welsh Government’s plan to address long waiting lists was published in April 2022 and is detailed here: https://www.gov.wales/ambitious-plan-end-long-waiting-times-and-transform-planned-care
5. The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) provides world-class education, assessment, and development to 30,000 surgeons, dental professionals, and members of the wider surgical and dental care teams, at all stages of their career. Our vision is to see excellent surgical care for everyone. We do this by setting professional standards, facilitating research, and championing the best outcomes for patients.
6. For more information, please contact the RCS England press office: telephone: 020 7869 6053/6054/6047; email: pressoffice@rcseng.ac.uk; out-of-hours media enquiries: 0207 869 6056.