Surgeons – top priority must be bringing down waiting lists in Wales

New data published today (18 April) shows that the waiting list for referral to treatment in Wales is on the rise again with the figure for February 2024 sitting at just over 763,105, up from over 754,814 in January 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. There were just under 23,000 pathways waiting more than two years. There were also around 140,900 waiting more than one year in February 2024. The longest waits are for trauma and orthopaedic treatment, 98,934; general surgery, 83,433; ENT, 59,854; and urology, 43,005.

Responding to the figures, Professor Jon Barry, Director in Wales at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said:

“It’s encouraging to hear that the new First Minister, Vaughan Gething, is making cutting waiting times his top priority.  However, with waiting times on the rise again, we need investment in staff and in surgical hubs sooner rather than later.

“This will help cut waiting lists at the rate that is needed – particularly for those patients who have been waiting the longest. We are only a year away from the Welsh government’s ambition to eliminate waits longer than one year in most areas of surgery.

“This must be top priority.  Patients waiting more than one or even two years for treatment will be suffering huge disruption to their lives and there is a risk that their condition will deteriorate while they wait. We can’t allow this to become the “new normal” for planned operations in Wales.”

ENDS

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. Data for patients waiting over one and two years to start treatment is drawn from the Welsh Government’s NHS activity and performance summary: January and February 2024: https://www.gov.wales/nhs-activity-and-performance-summary-february-and-march-2024-html
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. 
4. https://record.senedd.wales/Plenary/13872#A87474
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.