The number of people languishing in pain on an NHS waiting list in Wales has hit 750,000 – the highest number on record – in the same month the worst ambulance waits were recorded in the Labour-run NHS.
Not only are well over 1-in-5 people on a waiting list, but the number of people waiting over two years is now 59,350 – nearly three times the figure a year ago – despite such waits having been eliminated in England and Scotland.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said:
“The failure of the Labour Government to prepare for pandemic recovery continues to be felt by the people of Wales as they experience the longest treatment waiting lists, ambulance delays, and A&E waits in Britain.
“This failure to plan for the re-opening of hospitals has meant the delivery of healthcare is out of control – staff are doing their best to cope with demand but a lack of leadership from the centre has meant minister leaving the NHS totally adrift.
“For over two years we have called for surgical hubs to reduce the backlog, something backed by the Royal College of Surgeons. The Conservatives did in England but Labour did not in Wales. Now 59,000 people wait over two years for treatment in Wales, but there are no such waits in England.
“This is the cost of Labour – now they need to get a grip on the NHS and stop breaking all the wrong records.”
Also, 1-in-4 Welsh patients wait over a year for treatment, but only 1-in-20 do so in England. Meanwhile, the median waiting time for that same month in Wales was 22.1 weeks compared to 13.8 in England.
Additional figures showed a third (32%) of patients had to wait over the four-hour target to be seen in A&E last month.
In England and Scotland, the equivalent figure were 29% and 30%, respectively. The Welsh target to get 95% admittances seen in four hours has never been met in its 13-year existence.
Statistics also revealed that:
- The Cardiff & Vale health board was the worst performing area in the nation against the four-hour A&E target, seeing only 62% in four hours;
- An astonishing 53% of patients had to wait over four hours at emergency departments in Wrexham Maelor Hospital and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, making them the worst performing sites in Wales;
- Over 10,000 patients waited over 12 hours in Welsh hospitals; and
- Adults aged 85+ spent an average of seven hours in emergency departments.
When it came to ambulance performance in September, only 50% of responses to immediately life-threatening calls arrived within eight minutes – the joint worst rate on record. The target of 65% of red-calls reaching their patient within eight minutes has not been reached now for two years.
Staggeringly, 64% of amber call patients – which include strokes – took over an hour to reach, with only 19% arriving within 30 minutes.
The slowest ambulances were in Dyfed’s Hywel Dda health board area with only 41% arriving within the eight-minute target of a red-call. Only 30% came to the scene within an hour of an amber call in Cwm Taf Morgannwg.
The figures come a month after Audit Wales warns it could take seven years to clear the NHS backlog in Wales and the British Medical Association say traditional winter pressures are now year-round, and that there is desperate need for a workforce strategy from the Labour Government.
