Latest waiting times confirm NHS crisis in Wales 

Rhun ap Iorwerth MS calls for “new and innovative thinking” to “drastically improve” NHS waiting times

Plaid Cymru has called for “new and innovative thinking” to “drastically improve” waiting times, some of which are the worst on record.

The party’s spokesperson for health and care, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS and says the latest figures confirm the health service is in “crisis“.

However, in a Senedd vote late last night (Wednesday 18 January), Labour voted down calls to declare a health crisis in Wales.

The latest figures released today (Thursday 19 January) show that ambulance response times and waiting times in emergency departments are the worst on record, with only 2 in 5 lift threatening calls to the ambulance service being responded to within the target time of 8 minutes.

Whilst the number of patients on waiting lists has reduced slightly, and there is an increase in patients starting cancer treatment within the month, Welsh Government is still some way from meeting their target. Just over half of cancer patients start their treatment within the target time of 62 days, and the target is for 4 in 5 cancer patients to start treatment within this time.

Responding to the figures, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for health and care, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS said,

“Welsh Government cannot keep doing the same thing and expecting waiting times to drastically improve – this needs new and innovative thinking to change the current trajectory that the NHS is on.

“That is why Plaid Cymru believes that a health crisis should be declared in Wales and why it was so disappointing that Labour voted this down in the Senedd yesterday. This would have shown that they’re prepared to acknowledge the scale of the challenge, and are prepared to set a new context in which to take on those challenges.”