How does the Cabinet Minister plan to address the hidden waiting list where patients wait many years for procedures such as corneal transplantation, without being accounted for in the official waiting list figures?
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), a UK-wide Special Health Authority, is responsible for organ donation and managing the organ transplant waiting list across the United Kingdom. This includes operating the National Transplant Register and the Organ Donor Register, and these arrangements reflect the clinical requirement to match donors and recipients according to need and organ availability. In contrast, the NHS in Wales is responsible for managing routine referral to treatment (RTT) waiting lists, official statistics for which are published by the Welsh Government.
Transplant procedures themselves are commissioned separately from routine care. In Wales, the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee commissions transplant services from specialist centres, reflecting the highly specialised and cross-border nature of these services.
As a result, waiting times for procedures such as corneal transplantation are not directly comparable with RTT waiting lists. People are listed based on clinical need and the availability of suitable donor tissue, rather than time waited.
The Welsh Government works closely with the other UK governments to oversee NHSBT’s service delivery and to support improvements in outcomes for people awaiting transplantation. While demand for transplants continues to grow, there is a programme of UK-wide work underway to improve both organ availability and utilisation.
Through this collaborative approach, we are seeking to increase donation rates, improve the efficiency of transplantation pathways, and ensure people across Wales and the rest of the UK receive equitable and timely access to transplant procedures.