Sarah Murphy MS, Welsh Labour’s Member of the Senedd for Bridgend, has welcomed the publication of a new ambitious plan to transform planned care in Wales and cut waiting times over the next four years by Welsh Labour’s Health Minister, Eluned Morgan.
The plan is being supported by an extra £60m – £15m a year over the next four years – for health boards. The Welsh Labour Government has now committed more than £1bn this Senedd term to help the NHS recover from the pandemic.
The plan, published this week, has been designed to help the NHS manage the backlog of appointments and treatments, which has built up during the pandemic and reduce waiting times for people with non-urgent health conditions.
The Health Minister said the plan aims to ensure no one will be waiting more than a year for treatment in most specialties by Spring 2025.
A series of stretching targets for health boards have been set out in the plan. Waiting times and waiting lists for planned care – routine referrals and non-emergency care – have been hugely affected by the pandemic across the UK.
At the start of the pandemic, the majority of appointments and treatments were postponed to enable the NHS to focus on caring for the large number of people with Covid-19. Subsequent waves of coronavirus infections have also affected activity levels in the NHS.
Rigorous but necessary infection control measures in the NHS, especially in hospitals, have transformed the way services are delivered and have reduced the number of planned appointments and surgeries which can be performed.
Welcoming the plan, Sarah Murphy MS said:
“We know that waiting times and waiting lists have grown as a result of the Covid pandemic. Reducing these will require new solutions, more equipment, new facilities, and more staff to help diagnose people quickly as part of an effective and efficient planned care service.
“I’m pleased that the Welsh Government is committed to working with our fantastic NHS to ensure no one waits longer than a year for treatment in most specialities by spring 2025. To support this, they have committed £1bn this Senedd term to help the NHS recover from the pandemic and to treat people as quickly as possible.
“I welcome this ambitious plan. It sets out how planned care will be transformed so the most urgent cases are prioritised.”
As Wales moves beyond the emergency response to the pandemic, the way the NHS delivers some care has changed – people will only need to go into hospital when they need care, advice or services, which cannot be delivered as close to their home as possible.
The plan builds on these changes and sets the goal of 35% of all new appointments and 50% of follow-up appointments being delivered virtually in future. This will help to free up clinicians’ time so they can see and treat more patients.
Another key element of the plan is delivering more diagnostic tests outside hospitals and closer to people’s homes in primary and community care settings. This will save time. Plans for two community diagnostic centres will be developed this year, with more to follow by the end of this Senedd term.
An online website will be created where patients can get the information and support to manage their own conditions, helping people to manage their own health and reducing the number who need to be readmitted to hospital for treatment.