Health Secretary response to latest NHS Wales performance data: April and May 2025
Health Secretary Jeremy Miles has today announced £120 million to fund a plan to eliminate long waits and reduce the size of the waiting list this year.
Swansea Bay and Powys Health Boards have no pathways waiting longer than 2 years and no 1 year waits for a first outpatient appointment. Hywel Dda and Aneurin Bevan University Health Boards each have fewer than 300 patient pathways waiting more than 2 years for treatment making up less than 1% of their waiting list.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has the most pathways waiting more than 2 years for treatment in Wales.
The latest NHS Wales performance data published today (19 June 2025), cover planned care until the end of April, and include the Easter holiday period.
While there was a growth in the number of the people waiting more than 2 years for treatment compared to the March figures, long waits are now 86% lower than they were at their peak. April’s figure is the second lowest since April 2021.
Health Secretary, Jeremy Miles, said:
It is disappointing to see the increase in long waits in April after all the progress health boards have made over the last few months.
However, this is an annual trend seen in April in Wales and also the other UK nations.
This is why we are making changes to how the NHS provides planned care and are investing £120 million to bring down waiting times this year.
We will continue to work with the NHS to improve access to care because we know how important it is for people to get treatment as soon as possible.
This new funding will mean more and faster appointments, tests and treatments over the next 12 months.
We’re asking people to do all they can to support the NHS by keeping their appointment and making sure they are fit and ready for treatment.
Nearly 2,000 people started their cancer treatment and just under 15,000 people were told the good news they didn’t have cancer in April, both increases compared to March.
Urgent and emergency care services continue to see large numbers of people, this was the busiest May on record for the Welsh Ambulance Service, with more red, immediately life-threatening 999 calls. Despite this, the median response time performance was exactly 8 minutes and more than 80% of calls were responded to within 15 minutes.
Emergency department performance continues to be stable and the average time to admission, transfer or discharge was 2 hours and 46 minutes across all emergency care facilities.
People are urged to call NHS 111 for advice to ensure they get the right care, from the right NHS service for their needs.
https://www.gov.wales/health-secretary-response-latest-nhs-wales-performance-data-april-and-may-2025