The latest NHS statistics for Wales revealed that performance against the 4-hour target, where 95% of new patients should spend less than 4 hours in emergency departments from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge, is the lowest it has been for three years at only 64.3% in December.
The target is for no patients at all should wait over 12 hours, yet in December, 10,193 patients waited 12 hours or more, which was again higher than in November.
NHS treatment waiting lists remain at 757,866 pathways, the equivalent of nearly 1-in-4 Welsh people. The disparity in two-year NHS waits for treatment between Wales and England remains large, with NHS Wales two-year waits at 6,883, compared with only 177 in England.
The Labour Health Minister, now First Minister, Eluned Morgan promised to eliminate these waits for the last two years (by March 2023 and again by March 2024), but failed to meet these targets and still has not.
Commenting on the latest statistics, Peter Fox MS, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee and the new Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said:
“It is clear that after 27 years of Plaid-backed Labour Governments, our NHS is broken. In some areas, the situation is even deteriorating.
“Ambulance response times, cancer treatment target performance and emergency department waits have all worsened, with the latter being further from the target than it has been for three years.
“The Welsh Conservatives have a credible plan to fix our NHS. We will declare a health emergency, increase the number of beds in our hospitals, and roll out rapid diagnostic centres and surgical hubs to improve patient flow and cut waits.”
ENDS
Notes to editors: The latest statistics for waiting times can be found here and a link to the latest Welsh NHS performance summary can be found here (covering November and December 2025).
- The total number of patient pathways were 757,866 in November – the equivalent of nearly 1-in-4 of the Welsh population.
- The estimated number of patients waiting for treatment was ~591,700 in November.
- Two-year waits are 6,883, compared with only 177 in England. You are 375-times more likely to wait over two-years on the Welsh NHS waiting list than if you’re on the NHS waiting list in England.
- The Labour Health Minister, now First Minister, Eluned Morgan promised to effectively eliminate two-year waits by March 2023 and again by March 2024, but failed to meet these targets and still has not.
- The average (median) time patient pathways had been waiting for treatment in August was 19.2 weeks, compared with 12.9 weeks in England.
- In December, the proportion of patients waiting less than 4 hours in Welsh emergency departments was 64.3% – the lowest in three years. The target is 95%.
- 10,193 patients waited 12 hours or more in Welsh emergency departments in December – the target is zero patients.
- Performance against the 62-day target for patients starting cancer treatment has decreased to 58.4% as of November, well below the target of 75%.
- For Ambulance Red calls, the median increased to 9 minutes 20 seconds and the 90th percentile also increased to 22 minutes 47 seconds, the longest recorded so far.
