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The waiting list for planned treatments in the Welsh NHS has decreased for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to new figures.
Data from October reveals there were 753,293 treatments waiting to be completed, which was a drop of 0.2% from September and the first decrease since April 2020.
This was still the second highest number recorded and 62.6% higher than at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic nearly three years ago.
The figures show more than 376,000 consultations were carried out in October in hospital and over 106,000 patient pathways were closed – an increase of 12.8% from the previous month.
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “Progress continues to be made on the longest waits. Two year waits for treatment have fallen for the seventh month in a row and are down by 23% since the peak in March.
“The proportion of pathways waiting less than 26 weeks increased this month with the number waiting more than 36 weeks falling.
“The number of pathways waiting longer than one year for their first outpatient appointment dropped for the second month in a row.
“An all-time record 14,412 people were seen and told they don’t have cancer – this is 4% higher than the previous month.
“Whilst performance decreased slightly against the 62-day target, more people started their first definitive cancer treatment in October 2022 compared to September 2022.”
This fall is testament to the hard work that those in the Welsh NHS have put in in recent months to tackle the waiting times we have here— Professor Jon Barry
Doctors from The Royal College of Surgeons of England welcomed the decrease in the overall waiting list.
“This fall is testament to the hard work that those in the Welsh NHS have put in in recent months to tackle the waiting times we have here,” Professor Jon Barry said.
“I cannot speak highly enough of all those in our system and these figures will be a welcome boon as we approach Christmas.
“However, Christmas and the depth of winter means flu season, and future figures will almost certainly remain near record levels.”
But Macmillan Cancer Support warned that Wales has once again registered its worst ever performance on cancer treatment targets since current records began.
Policy manager Glenn Page said: “Unfortunately, we are seeing out 2022 in the same way as we started it back in January, with a dire warning that delays in cancer care are worse than ever before.
The direction of travel over the course of this year couldn’t be more wrong, with Wales moving ever further away from meeting its national cancer treatment targets— Macmillan Policy manager Glenn Page
“The direction of travel over the course of this year couldn’t be more wrong, with Wales moving ever further away from meeting its national cancer treatment targets.
“That direction of travel must be reversed in 2023, but that will only happen when hardworking NHS staff get the leadership they need, from both the UK and the Welsh Government.”
The Welsh Conservatives said the Welsh Government needed to “get a grip” on the crisis with the NHS in Wales.
Health spokesman Russell George said: “Is it at all surprising to see doctors consider striking alongside nurses, ambulance workers, and midwives in Labour-run Wales when we see numbers like this?
“This cost-of-pain crisis is a living nightmare for those forced to wait months, if not years for treatment, while patients are scared about whether they will get an ambulance or not, or whether they will be seen in A&E in a reasonable time.
“Labour need to get a grip on the NHS and stop breaking all the wrong records.”
Meanwhile, around 1,000 Welsh Ambulance Service workers will stage industrial action in the new year.
Unite said the workers, including paramedics, emergency medical technicians and call handling staff, voted by 88% for industrial action and strike dates would be announced in the new year.
Union general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite’s Ambulance service members in Wales are striking because they see first-hand every day how the NHS is collapsing.
“They are dedicated life-saving professionals and are taking this step because they know the NHS itself needs saving.
“The Welsh Government must put a better offer on the table to help resolve the recruitment and retention crisis that is crippling the service.
“But it is also incumbent on the Conservative government in Westminster, who hold the ultimate responsibility for the years of destruction inflicted on the NHS, to meet with heath unions and urgently address staffing and pay levels.”
