Surgeons - more surgical hubs would bring waiting lists down

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – THURSDAY 23 JANUARY 2025

The waiting list for referral to hospital treatment in Wales has continued to rise, reaching 802,268 in November 2024 - a new high.
  
The Royal College of Surgeons of England highlights again that the focus must be on the need to increase the pace of the development of surgical hubs across Wales. Surgical hubs enable hospitals to separate planned procedures from emergency care, allowing operations to continue even when hospitals face high demand.

According to the latest Stats Wales data, the waiting list grew by 136 patients between October and November 2024, with the current list exceeding the figure for the same time last year by just over 37,000.
 
Of the total 802,300 pathways, just under 173,800 were waiting more than one year in November. This number was 0.6% higher than last month. This has been rising in the last year and is now only 5.3% lower than the peak in August 2022. Just under 24,400 were waiting more than two years. This number is 0.7% higher than last month, but 65.4% lower than the peak in March 2022.
 
In response to the growing waiting list, Professor Jon Barry, Director in Wales at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: 

“Momentum needs to continue so that the planned surgical hubs for Llandudno, Conwy County, and Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taf, happen without delay. 

“We are currently seeing NHS healthcare staff facing winter pressures head on, so we must support them and ensure that teams are properly resourced too. This includes increasing the surgical workforce, if we want to see waiting lists come down.”

ENDS

Notes to editors  

1. There were 802,268 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of November 2024. There were 802,132 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of October 2024.
2. There were 758,510 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of November 2023.
3. 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 
4. Data for patients waiting over one and two years to start treatment is drawn from the Welsh Government’s NHS activity and performance summary: October and November 2024: https://www.gov.wales/nhs-activity-and-performance-summary-november-and-december-2024
5. ‘The ‘patient pathway’ data released by Stats Wales covers the period of time from referral by a GP or other medical practitioner to hospital for treatment in the NHS in Wales. The data includes time spent waiting for any hospital appointments, tests, surgery, scans, or other procedures.
6. 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.
7. The Health Foundation carried out a study on the effects of Surgical Hubs in 2024: https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/new-research-concludes-that-surgical-hubs-can-speed-up-efforts-to-tackle-hospital-waiting-lists/ 
8. 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.  
9. 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.