Patients waiting longer in Wales than England

PATIENTS in Wales are continuing to wait longer than their counterparts in England for some vital diagnoses and treatments, latest statistics have revealed.

The figures for 2016-17, which are directly comparable, show that the biggest gap between the Welsh NHS and NHS England is still for hip operations.

The average wait for a hip operation in Wales during 2016-17 was 215 days, while in England it was just 82 days.

And the official statistics revealed that the average length of time heart bypass patients have waited for surgery has nearly doubled.

In 2016-17, patients waited an average of 79 days for the procedure, compared to 43 days in 2015-16.

Overall, there were longer waits for Welsh patients in eight out of the 11 main indicators in Wales, compared to the same measures in England.

Welsh Conservatives have called for an “unashamedly target-driven” strategy to reduce waiting times.

Shadow Health Minister Angela Burns said: “For too long, Labour ministers have sought to play down the importance of waiting times, but it is a fact that longer waits lead to poorer outcomes – while also increasing the risk of complications and broader health issues.

“The wait for hip operations is scandalous, and it is deeply concerning that waiting times for a heart bypass procedure have almost doubled since last year.

“On too many indicators the Welsh NHS is lagging behind, despite the very best efforts of frontline staff.

“We need an innovative and unashamedly target-driven strategy to reducing waiting times – but there needs to be the will at Welsh Government level to accept that there is a serious crisis of management at the heart of the Welsh NHS.”

Plaid Cymru health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said his party had “consistently highlighted the unacceptably long waiting times in the NHS”.

He said: “It’s why we’ve been calling for the Labour government to adopt a more rigorous approach to managing health board performance, drawing on the Scottish experience that successfully reduced waiting times in 2011.”

The data was taken from the Patient Episode Database for Wales (PEDW)/Hospital Episode Statistics.

The Welsh Government said it was disappointed in the increase in waits for cardiac bypass surgery and is looking to understand the reasons behind it.

A spokesman said: “The PEDW data is more than a year old and we do not use this data to measure performance.

“There has been improvement in the length of time patients in Wales wait for treatment, with March 2017 showing a 57% improvement on the high of August 2015 in terms of the 36 week numbers.

“We recognise in some cases people are waiting too long for treatment. This is why we invested a further £50m in August last year to reduce waiting times and we expect to see further improvement when the statistics for March 2018 are published.

“We are working to improve cardiac bypass surgery waiting times and speed up diagnosis for patients.”