Surgeons: Expand the network of surgical hubs to shorten waiting times

The waiting list for hospital treatment in Wales has seen a small fall for the fourth month in a row.  

In March 2025, just over 790,020 patient pathways were waiting for treatment, down from 793,946 in February 2025. The total number of patient pathways waiting longer than two years stands at just under 8,389, a decrease from 15,505 in February 2025 and close to meeting the Welsh Government’s pledge to bring this number down to 8,000 by spring 2025.

We welcome the significant progress made on patient pathways waiting longer than two years, with a 45.9% decrease in these numbers between February and March. This is a testament to the hard work of Health Board staff, and reflects the drive put into reaching this goal by Welsh Government.  

While small decreases have been achieved, the overall number of patient pathways waiting for treatment remains stubbornly high. These latest figures come just weeks after the Ministerial Advisory Group Report painted a sobering picture of performance in the Welsh NHS, while outlining key solutions to improve productivity.  

Among these, the report recognised the important role surgical hubs can play in ensuring patients waiting for surgery get their operations as soon as possible.  This is a long-standing call of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in Wales. By separating planned surgeries from emergency care, surgical hubs help ensure that beds and resources are dedicated to planned procedures. This separation reduces the risk of short-notice cancellations due to emergency admissions, thereby shortening waiting times for patients¹. Surgical hubs must play a core role in a sustainable, long-term approach to bringing down waiting lists in Wales. 

Professor Jon Barry, Director in Wales at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said:

“We need clarity from the Welsh Government on the progress being made to establish surgical hubs in Wales. 

“We echo the position of the independent Ministerial Advisory Group that there is already the necessary infrastructure, buildings and staff to establish dedicated surgical hubs.  We need the Welsh Government to expand the number of surgical hubs so that patients can have their operations in a timely way, and get back to living their normal lives, free of pain and worry.”  

ENDS

Notes to editors: 
 
1. 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
2. There were just over 790,000 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of March 2025.  There were 793,946 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of February 2025.  There were just under 768,900 patient pathways waiting to start treatment at the end of March 2024.  
3. 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. 
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. Data for patients waiting over one and two years to start treatment is drawn from the Welsh Government’s NHS activity and performance summary: March 2025 and April 2025: https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Health-and-Social-Care/NHS-Hospital-Waiting-Times/Referral-to-Treatment/patientpathwayswaitingtostarttreatment-by-month-groupedweeks
6. 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. 
7. 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.  
8. 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. 
9. 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.