‘FIVE YEARS TO CLEAR BACKLOG’
COVID IMPACT ON NHS:
IT will take five years to clear the backlog of NHS operations caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Wales’s Health Minister has said.
Vaughan Gething was answering questions in the Senedd yesterday about the impact of coronavirus on the NHS.
He told Conservative MS Angela Burns there was a “huge” backlog that would take a full Welsh Parliament term – five years – to clear.
Mr Gething said the Government owed the NHS not to set “unrealistic” targets for when the backlog would be cleared.
“I think this will take a full Welsh Parliament term. That’s the honesty the people of Wales need to hear and the honesty our staff need to hear as well. We’re not going to suddenly expect them to wipe away all of the huge backlog that has built up necessarily to prevent people from losing their lives in the last year.”
It was the last meeting of all Members of the Senedd ahead of May’s election. Mr Gething said Welsh Labour would give more details on how it planned to deal with the effects of Covid-19 on the health service when it launches its manifesto.
That is due in the coming weeks.
Mr Gething said he did not believe it was at a point yet when the NHS was ready to start dealing with the “new normal”.
“I don’t think we are at a point where Covid is now managed and endemic,” he said. “I think that’s where we will get to but I don’t think we’re there yet.
“When critical care is still operating at over 100% of its capacity and we still have significant numbers of Covid-positive patients, I don’t think we’re there yet but I think we’re well on the track to do so.
“Each easement that we unlock means there’s another area of activity that can be restored in wider life to put us further on the path to being able to deal with a new normal for our health and care system.”
In January, figures showed more than half a million patients are waiting to start NHS treatment in Wales, the highest number on record.
Some 231,722 (44%) of these patients were waiting more than nine months (36 weeks) for treatment to start.
In January 2020 there were 27,314 people in that cohort, meaning there has been a staggering 748% increase in 11 months.