Surgeons: extra funding for Wales in Spending Review must go to surgical hubs

Surgeons have urged that part of the additional £5 billion allocated to Wales over the next three years from the Spending Review should be used to create more surgical hubs to reduce patient waiting times. The call comes as performance data published today show the waiting list for hospital treatment in Wales has fallen very slightly to just over 789,000 in April 2025.
 
Analysis of referral to treatment waiting times data for April 2025 also reveals 159,000 patient pathways were waiting longer than one year, and 9,600 were waiting longer than two years.
 
The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) said that a £120 million package of funding announced by the Health Secretary Jeremy Miles today will go some way in helping reduce long waits for planned care. However, it warned that the scale of waiting lists requires a longer-term strategy, with increased investment in surgical hubs.
 
Responding to the latest figures, Professor Jon Barry, Director for Wales at the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England), said:
 
“The package of funding for waiting lists announced today will go some way to getting patients seen and diagnosed more quickly. However, we must recognise the scale of the problem. Expanding surgical hubs in Wales gives us the best hope of reducing long waits and keeping them down.
 
“With the UK Government’s Spending review delivering the largest devolved settlement since devolution, the Welsh Government must go beyond today’s extra funding to invest in our NHS and accelerate the rollout of surgical hubs so that patients are put out of the misery of waiting unacceptably long for much-needed treatment.”
 
ENDS

Notes to editors

1. Data for patients waiting over one and two years to start treatment is drawn from the Welsh Government’s NHS activity and performance summary: April 2025 and May 2025: https://www.gov.wales/nhs-activity-and-performance-summary-march-and-april-2025-html#172178
   
   
2. There were 789,929 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of April 2025. There were 790,020 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of March 2025.
   
   
3. The Health Secretary announced £120 million to help cut waiting times: https://www.gov.wales/nhs-activity-and-performance-summary-march-and-april-2025-html#172178
   
   
4. Full, historical Stats Wales Referral to Treatment Waiting Times: https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Health-and-Social-Care/NHS-Hospital-Waiting-Times/Referral-to-Treatment/patientpathwayswaitingtostarttreatment-by-month-groupedweeks
   
   
5. The Health Foundation carried out a study on the effects of surgical hubs in 2024: https://www.health.org.uk/press-office/press-releases/new-surgical-hubs-could-speed-up-efforts-to-tackle-hospital-waiting
   
   
6. 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.
   
   
7. For more information, please contact the Press Office:

• Telephone: 020 7869 6047/6052
• Email: pressoffice@rcseng.ac.uk
• Out of hours media enquiries: 07966 486832