Surgeons: inconsistent progress in addressing NHS waiting times in Wales

New NHS Wales figures reveal there has been a rise in the longest waits for consultant-led hospital treatment in Wales, while the overall waiting list has fallen slightly.  

The total number of patient pathways waiting longer than two years in July 2025 stands at 8,005, a slight increase from 7,447 in June 2025. The number of patient pathways waiting longer than a year has seen a small fall, standing at 156,143, compared to 157,027 in June 2025. Overall, 793,058 patient pathways were waiting for treatment, down slightly from 794,543 in June 2025.    

The latest figures demonstrate that progress on reducing waiting lists in Wales remains inconsistent.  While some headway was made earlier this year on two-year waits, with four months of progress between November 2024 and March 2025, these long waits have seen a rise again this month (July 2025).   

Responding to the figures, Professor Jon Barry, Director in Wales at the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England), said:   

“With such fluctuating figures each month, and with total numbers of those waiting largely unchanged over the last year, it is hard to herald any decrease as a meaningful sign of progress.    

“Getting waiting times in Wales back on an even keel demands long-term solutions. The Welsh Government must pivot its focus away from short-term targets that aren’t being achieved and towards a long-term approach, with the expansion of surgical hubs at its core. Only then can meaningful, sustained reductions in waiting times be achieved.” 

ENDS  

Notes to editors:   

1. 793,058 patient pathways were waiting to start treatment at the end of July 2025. 796,148 patient pathways were waiting to start treatment at the end of June 2025. There were just under 796,631 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of July 2024.  

2. NHS Wales waiting time targets:  

a. No patients waiting longer than two years in most specialities by March 2023, and no patients waiting longer than one year in most specialities by Spring 2025 (new targets established in the planned care recovery plan).  

b. 95% of patients waiting less than 26 weeks from referral.  

c. No patients waiting more than 36 weeks for treatment from referral.  

3. In April 2025, Welsh Government outlined waiting times ambitions to be met by March 2026:  

a. Reduce the waiting list by 200,000  

b. Eliminate two-year waiting times for planned treatment  

c. Restore a maximum eight-week wait for tests  

4. Full patient pathways waiting to start treatment by month, grouped weeks and stage of pathway: https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Health-and-Social-Care/NHS-Hospital-Waiting-Times/Referral-to-Treatment/patientpathwayswaitingtostarttreatment-by-month-groupedweeks  

5. Patient pathways waiting longer than one or two years, and pathways waiting longer than one year for a first outpatient appointment by local health board, treatment function/specialty: https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Health-and-Social-Care/NHS-Hospital-Waiting-Times/Referral-to-Treatment/covid19recoveryplanambitionsforreferraltotreatmentwaitingtimes  

6. There was a decrease in two-year waits for four consecutive months between November 2024 and March 2025, but from April 2025 that figure has begun to rise again. 

7. The ‘patient pathway’ data released by Stats Wales covers the period of time from referral by a GP or other medical practitioner to hospital for treatment in the NHS in Wales. The data includes time spent waiting for any hospital appointments, tests, surgery, scans, or other procedures.  

8. In March 2016, Stats Wales changed some of the terminology used in referral to treatment reporting. Previously, when publishing these statistics, they used the terminology patients. However, now, it is possible that a person could be on several different lists waiting for different conditions – i.e., there would be one patient but more than one pathway. Due to the RTT dataset being an aggregate data collection, Stats Wales says they are not able to measure the number of unique patients. Therefore, they are using the terminology ‘patient pathways,’ to reflect the fact that one person can be on multiple waiting lists.  

9. The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) provides world-class education, assessment, and development to 30,000 surgeons, dental professionals, and members of the wider surgical and dental care teams, at all stages of their career. Our vision is to see excellent surgical care for everyone. We do this by setting professional standards, facilitating research, and championing the best outcomes for patients.  

10. For more information, please contact the RCS England press office: telephone: 020 7869 6054/6047; email: pressoffice@rcseng.ac.uk; out-of-hours media enquiries: 0207 869 6056.