Hospital waiting time figures in Wales ‘worst on record’

Figures released today (January 21) show that some 530,371 patients were – by the end of November 2020 – waiting to start treatment are the worst on record, and up 67,113 (14.5 percent) on November 2019. The situation has been described by Shadow Health Minister Andrew RT Davies MS as “appalling”.

Mr Davies said:

“Regrettably, waiting list targets were being missed before the pandemic started with the Welsh Labour-led Government consistently letting down patients.

“Coronavirus has now led to us having the worst waiting times on record, but the pandemic has only shone a spotlight on how bad things were before, and these devastating figures demonstrate that we now urgently need a waiting time recovery plan from Labour ministers.

“The health minister, Vaughan Gething, has previously dismissed calls to have such as a plan as ‘foolish’ but these are people’s lives and behind every statistic is an individual in pain.

“With vaccines now being rolled out across the country, we have to get a plan in place to tackle this huge backlog and ensure patients aren’t left waiting in unnecessary agony or anxiety.”