WAITING lists for NHS treatment in Wales have shrunk slightly but are still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Health minister Eluned Morgan said she was pleased the health service had “made some headway in planned care” but acknowledged “the pressures we have seen on our NHS have still not eased”.

Opposition parties have been more critical, with the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru accusing the Welsh Government of “mismanagement”.

Here’s what the new figures show:

Waiting lists for treatment

The size of NHS waiting lists for treatment fell slightly in February to 731,000, marking the fifth month in a row that number have gone down, albeit slightly.

This is larger than the number of people on waiting lists, because some patients may be scheduled to begin several types of treatment.

The government said the pandemic “caused a large increase in patient pathways waiting to start treatment”.

Ambulance response times

Nationally, March saw the Welsh Ambulance Service record the second-worst performance for responding to the most serious callouts, so-called “red” calls, since comparable records began.

The government target is for paramedics to reach 65 per cent of those callouts within eight minutes, but in March the service only managed to arrive in that timeframe in 47.5 per cent of cases.

Ambulance response times have suffered since the beginning of the pandemic and the government said it was “important to note that over the same period there has been a significant increase in the volume of red calls received”.

Paramedics in the Gwent area were the best performing in Wales last month, reaching 52 per cent of “red” callouts within eight minutes.

A&E departments

The number of people attending A&E in Wales increased last month compared with February, with nearly 2,900 patients arriving on an average day.

The government target is for 95 per cent of patients to be admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E within four hours of arrival, and for no patients to wait more than 12 hours.

But nationally, only 69. 5 per cent of patients were seen in less than four hours in March, and 88.7 per cent were seen within 12 hours.

Health Minister's Statement

The Minister for Health and Social Services, Eluned Morgan said: "I’m pleased to see in today’s data that we have made some headway in planned care.

"In February the number of patient pathways waiting to start treatment fell from around 734,000 to 731,000, a fifth consecutive decrease, while waiting lists continue to rise in England. 574,000 individual patients are currently on treatment waiting lists in Wales, a fall of 1,700 patients.

"The number of patient pathways waiting longer than one year for a first outpatient appointment decreased to around 63,000, a reduction of 39% from its peak last August.

"The number of patient pathways waiting longer than 36 weeks fell to just over 237,600, the lowest since June 2021. About 37,500 pathways were waiting more than two years, 47% lower than the peak in March 2022.

"I expect to see these positive trends continue, as actions including our investment in extra community beds to improve patient flow through hospitals bear fruit.

"I’m also pleased that 12,724 patients in Wales were informed they did not have cancer in February. There was an improved performance for people starting treatment within 62 days to 52.5%, compared to 50.1% the previous month.

"However this is still short of our 75% target and at a national summit of cancer service leaders last month we agreed the need for further focused effort to continue to improve the number of people starting treatment within 62 days.

"These improvements must be seen within a wider a context where, as today’s data shows, the pressures we have seen on our NHS have still not eased.

"Emergency care services have borne the brunt of the recent pressures, with an increase in ambulance call volumes and presentations at emergency departments. Performance at major emergency departments in Wales has bettered English performance for the last seven months and has remained stable in contrast to all other parts of the UK.

"The volume of ‘immediately life threatened’ patients accessing the ambulance service remains very high in a historical context, 93% higher in March 2023 than in March 2019, and emergency admissions increased by 18% when compared with the same month last year. These are indicators of an increase in the numbers of very sick and frail adults accessing emergency care.

"Regarding ambulance response times, while there were improvements against the four and twelve hour targets compared to March 2022, response times for the most urgent calls continue to be a major challenge and we expect to see improvements in ambulance patient handover in the coming months to enable better performance.

"We have set very ambitious targets for our NHS and we have seen improvements in several areas, as our NHS continues to meet the increased demand for care following the pandemic. It is clear there is more to do in some areas, and I will expect to see progress following the improvements made and our additional investment."