What timelines has the Minister proposed to health boards to reduce the number of patients waiting more than 104 weeks for treatment and patients waiting over 52 weeks for an urgent outpatient appointment, and publish any guidance provided to health boards to reduce the number of patients waiting for treatment?
I have been very clear to the NHS through the planning guidance issued in October 2021, that planned care recovery and reduction of long waits is a key priority and Programme for Government commitment. I am expecting in the returns of the NHS Integrated Medium Term Plans, due at the end of March, that they will demonstrate how health boards will deliver on this priority, supported by an improvement trajectory.
I have been clear that recovery will take years and in the Planned Care Plan, due to be published in April, I will set a number of key milestones for the NHS in Wales to achieve.
The Welsh Government does not collect information on the urgency of patients waiting. Data on the number of people waiting is published monthly on the StatsWales website at
https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Health-and-Social-Care/NHS-Hospital-Waiting-Times/Referral-to-Treatment/patientpathwayswaitingtostarttreatment-by-month-groupedweeks. The latest published data relates to the end of December 2021.