HOSPITAL waiting lists in Wales hit another record high, with nearly one in five people waiting for treatment, according to latest statistics. Official figures for June show 615,341 patients were waiting for 791,511 treatments to take place – both the highest numbers on record. The estimated number of people waiting for treatment is up by 12% since March 2022.
So-called patient pathways – which account for patients waiting for more than one treatment – have risen by more than 80% since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of waits of more than a year was about 160,000 in July and at least two years was 23,400 – 3.5% and 4.
3% increases on the previous month, respectively. Performance in A&E fared a little better but waits remain relatively long historically and services are still some way short of the target of seeing 95% of patients in four hours. In July, 69.
3% of patients in A&Es spent less than four hours in emergency departments from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge – a 0.4% improvement over the month. Swansea Bay health board saw the biggest proportion spending less than four hours in A&E at 79.
1%, with Cardiff and Vale the lowest at 61.7%. In the latest data, the median average waiting time was two hours, 39 minutes – a six-minute improvement on the previous month.
The Welsh Government also has a target of no patient waiting more than 12 hours but over 10,100 patients waited at least 12 hours, according to the July figures. Betsi Cadw.