Responding to the latest referral to treatment time figures, published by the Welsh Government, Welsh Conservative health spokesman Darren Millar AM said:
“It’s disappointing to see that waiting times are once again on the rise, which come just a day after the Cabinet Secretary for Health’s claim that we can expect ‘good news’ on this front.
“The figures are especially dispiriting given that the data comes only a month after hospitals in Wales recorded their best performance since 2014.
“An extra 6,066 people are now in limbo waiting for treatment for a variety of conditions, which are likely to get worse unless they receive the timely medical attention they need.
“To make matters worse, the number of people waiting more than 26 weeks for treatment has also risen, and around 1-in-20 people on the waiting list have been languishing there for more than 36 weeks.
“Waiting times have for too long fallen way short of the Welsh Labour Government’s own targets and remain unacceptably high, having doubled since Carwyn Jones became First Minister in 2009.
“There is capacity to tackle these waiting times by making greater use of diagnostic technologies in primary care – something the Welsh Labour Government have simply failed to do.”
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