Surgeons: patients in Wales deserve better as surgical waiting times rise again

New data published today (20 June) shows that the waiting list for referral to consultant-led treatment in Wales has seen a significant increase, with the figure for April 2024 sitting at just over 775,031 - up from 768,899 in March 2024.  

The ‘patient pathway’ data released by Stats Wales covers the time a patient waits from their referral to hospital for treatment. The data includes time spent waiting for any hospital appointments, tests, surgery, scans, or other procedures.  

Today’s data shows there was a slight drop in the number of people waiting under 26 weeks, but more people were waiting for longer than 36 weeks, with a rise from 251,287 in March 2024 to 257,345 in April 2024. 
 
The data also shows there are 21,300 pathways waiting for more than two years. There were over 60,000 people waiting for more than one year in April 2024. The longest waits are for trauma and orthopaedic treatment, with 100,237 waits, and ENT at 61,363. 
 
Commenting on the figures, Professor Jon Barry, Director for Wales at the Royal College of Surgeons of England said:

"Despite the tireless efforts of our dedicated staff, the surgical backlog remains a glaring issue, and waiting times are still far from acceptable, especially for those waiting over 36 weeks for treatment. Patients are left in limbo, their lives on hold with some forced to wait over a year for the treatment they desperately need.  

“Patients in Wales deserve better, and they need access to care sooner rather than later. We need bold action and significant investment in our hospitals and staff. While there's more the Welsh government and NHS can do, we also need more ambitious and detailed funding plans from the main UK parties to ensure the Welsh NHS gets the funding patients deserve.' 
 

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. There were 775,031 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of April 2024. There were 768,899 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of March 2024.  
2. Full, historical Stats Wales Referral to Treatment Waiting Times can be found here: 
   Patient pathways waiting to start treatment by month, grouped weeks and stage of pathway (gov.wales)
3. Data for patients waiting over one and two years to start treatment is drawn from the Welsh Government’s NHS activity and performance summary:
   Patient pathways waiting to start treatment by month, grouped weeks and stage of pathway (gov.wales)
   
4. 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.  
5.  Plenary 16/04/2024 - Welsh Parliament (senedd.wales) 
6. The Royal College of Surgeons of 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 careers. 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.   
7. For more information, please contact the RCS England press office: telephone: 020 7869 6054/6053; email: pressoffice@rcseng.ac.uk; out-of-hours media enquiries: 0207 869 6056.