Welsh NHS: A&E waiting times improve but services remain 'volatile' amid strike action

Waiting times at Wales' emergency departments have improved slightly - but the number of patients being seen when they should be is still way off target.

Fewer people attended A&E departments across Wales in January compared to the previous month - an average of 2,514 every day.

More patients were seen within their four-hour target time - the best performance since July 2021.

However, just 69.9% spent less than four hours in A&E. The target is 95%.

Ambulance response times in January also improved but there were fewer "life-threatening" red calls made to 999.

January saw a number of days of industrial action by ambulance workers across Wales due to a long-running dispute over pay.

The Welsh Government said it was "relieved" to see an improvement in access to emergency departments but added the position remains volatile, particularly in light of ongoing industrial action and other concurrent risks in the system.

“Thankfully January saw lower levels of demand on ambulance services which, alongside targeted actions taken to increase capacity including the provision of almost 600 community beds, enabled an improvement in response times for Red and Amber.

"Performance also improved against both the four and twelve hour emergency department waiting time targets, and the average time spent in emergency departments decreased to two hours and thirty five minutes, the best since April 2021."

December saw the highest number of red calls ever made in a single month.

The government said there were an average of 132 immediately life-threatening calls were made each day, back to similar levels as in 2022.

Welsh Conservative and Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said the figures are "just are return to what we had to endure throughout last year."

"No doubt the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay will try to spin this as good news because waits were better than the record-bad waits hit in December, but the truth is this is just a return to what we had to endure throughout last year.

"It remains the case that A&E waits, ambulance response times, and NHS treatment waiting lists are longer in Labour-run Wales than in England and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon."

• What else does the data reveal?

The data shows there were an estimated 577,400 individual patients on treatment waiting lists across Wales in November.

Despite a 27% reduction from the peak in August last year, the target has not been met, which the Welsh Government described as "disappointing".

More than 45,000 pathways, which could include the same patient on multiple waiting lists, were waiting for more than two years for their surgeries.

Fewer people began treatment for cancer within the month of being diagnosed, the data also shows.

The target is that at least 75% of patients should start treatment within 62 days of first being suspected of cancer.

Latest data shows 52.9% began treatment within this timeframe - the second lowest on record.

Cancer charity Tenovus described the figures as "disastrous".

Judi Rhys MBE, Chief Executive of Tenovus Cancer Care, said, "This disastrous trend cannot continue as every year more and more people with cancer are living in fear and uncertainty while they wait for diagnosis and treatment. The consequences of long wait times on survival chances and treatment options will be catastrophic.

"While we know the health service is under great strain, it’s time to stop blaming factors like the pandemic or strikes. Cancer services need urgent attention."

• Is it time for the Welsh Government to rethink its NHS targets? ITV Wales Health Reporter Katie Fenton writes

There's good news and bad news in today's figures.

While ambulance delays and A&E waiting times have improved, several targets set by the Welsh Government have been missed.

In April last year, a target was set for no one to be waiting for longer than a year for their first outpatient appointment by the end of 2022. 

But the latest data has revealed that the number of such waits still stood at around 75,000 at the end of December.

This was one of five key ambitions set by the government to reduce waiting lists in Wales after the pandemic.

Another of those deadlines is looming - to eliminate the number of people waiting longer than two years to start treatment in most specialties by March 2023.

While it has been falling consistently for nine months, there are still around 45,300 pathways - meaning waits for hospital treatment. One patient can have multiple pathways.

If the current rate of progress is sustained, Senedd researchers predict that target will not be fulfilled until the middle of 2024.

'It was a very stretching target...but I think it did focus minds', Eluned Morgan MS said

Meanwhile ongoing performance targets are also not being met.

The target for 65% of the most immediately life-threatening calls to get a response within eight minutes has been missed for the 29th consecutive month - the last time in July 2020.

The target for 95% of A&E patients to be seen within four hours has never been met.

When I asked the Health Minister if these targets were set for show or set naively, she told me: "We've got to be clear that these targets were set pre-pandemic and we are still trying to cope with the aftermath of the pandemic.

"Some of these targets, as you say, weren't being met pre-pandemic so we're still in a very challenging situation.

"But on top of that we've got to remember that we have an ageing population, so the demands on the service are becoming greater rather than diminishing.

"That's why what's really important also is that we focus our attention on getting that help and support in the community to avoid people from going to hospital in the first place."