NHS list falls but 586,500 are still waiting
THE number of people waiting to start treatment at Wales’ hospitals fell in January – but three quarters of a million people are still waiting to be seen.
The coronavirus pandemic caused a large increase in the number of people waiting to start treatment, and four years on the Welsh NHS is still dealing with the consequences.
In January, the overall waiting list for people waiting to start treatment fell from just over 756,300 to just over 755,400, new data released yesterday showed.
This number represents patient pathways, and is not the equivalent of individual patients as some people are waiting for more than one treatment.
In total, there are around 586,500 individual patients on treatment waiting lists in Wales.
According to the Welsh Government, the average amount of time a person waited for treatment in January was 21.4 weeks, which is lower than the previous month.
But there are still over 23,400 pathways waiting more than two years.
The treatment with the longest wait in January was audiological medicine – affecting those with hearing loss.
This is followed by clinical immunology, the treatment of the immune system/allergies.
Other specialties are high too, with dental treatment and orthopaedics surgery appearing in the top five.
The data also showed that, for emergency services and A&E:
In February there were 4,607 red (life threatening) calls to the ambulance service, 13.9% of all calls;
An average of 159 immediately life-threatening calls were made each day, three less than in January, but still the fourth highest on record;
49.9% of red calls received an emergency response within eight minutes. This was 1.1 percentage points higher than in January;
There was an average of 2,892 daily attendances to emergency departments in February, an increase compared to the previous month;
The average (median) time spent in emergency departments remained the same in February compared to the previous month at two hours and 44 minutes;
And, for cancer services, the data showed:
More people started their first definitive treatment in January than the previous month, rising to 1,917;
The number of pathways closed following the patient being informed they did not have cancer increased to 14,031; and
Performance decreased against the 62 day target in January
to 54.7%, compared to 58.0% the previous month.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “For the third month in a row the overall waiting list number has come down. The number of pathways waiting more than two years for treatment also fell again, for the 22nd consecutive month.
“This is a remarkable achievement by our hard-working NHS staff considering it included a period of industrial action as well as the usual pressures on the system seen in January. Average response times to immediately life-threatening (red) calls were 10 seconds faster when compared to the
previous month, with 80% receiving a response in 15 minutes.”
“The proportion of red calls was the joint third highest on record. We expect to see health boards improve ambulance patient handover performance as a priority to support more timely ambulance responses.
The average time patients waited for triage and then to be assessed by a clinician in emergency departments was 18 and 58 minutes respectively.
“We have challenged health boards to make improvements on these and other key measures as part of our new Quality Statement for Care in Emergency Departments, published last week.
“It is also pleasing to see more people started their first treatment for cancer in January than the previous month, and more people being told they don’t have cancer.
“The average waiting time for treatment also improved, while the number of patient pathways waiting for diagnostics and therapies each fell for a third consecutive month. It is disappointing to see one-year waits for a first outpatient appointment increase again however.
“February also saw an increase in the total number of pathways of care discharge delays compared to the previous month, which reflects the difficulties of the impacts of winter pressures on both our health and social care sectors. Although the total for Wales has increased we have also seen some encouraging improvements within some regions in Wales.
“There remains much more to do, but we are encouraged by the direction in which the major statistics are trending.”