Scheduled care progress continues, but political parties need to be more radical
- In January, there were just over 713,000 referral to treatment (RTT) patient pathways waiting to start treatment, a decrease of around 27,900 since December. This is the lowest since April 2022 and the eighth month in a row where the figure has fallen.
- Management information suggests there were about 557,900 individual patients on treatment waiting lists in January 2026, down from 580,300 individual patients in December 2025.
- In January there was a positive decrease in treatment waiting lists. There were just over 22,300 pathways waiting longer than one year for their first outpatient appointment, a decrease of over 11,000 from the previous month (33,700), and 78.2% less than the peak in August 2022. This was the lowest figure since September 2020.
- In January, the number of pathways waiting longer than 36 weeks decreased to just over 202,700, the lowest figure since September 2020, and over 80,000 less than the same month last year (284,600).
- In January 2026, the number of patients informed they did not have cancer increased to 14,215. In December it was 13,667 and last January it was 12,371.
- Diagnostics patient pathways waiting decreased to just under 135,300 in January, compared to last January (113,400).
Responding to the NHS Wales activity and performance statistics for December and January, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, Darren Hughes, said:
“It’s encouraging to see continued month-on-month improvements in NHS waiting times, now for the eighth consecutive month. We commend the hard work of NHS staff and leaders who are driving this noteworthy progress.
“However, urgent and emergency care pressures remain. So, while targeted funding to boost progress in scheduled care is welcome, to achieve sustainable, long-term improvements across the breadth of health and social care, we need a more robust, whole-system approach that tackles the root causes of challenges.
“So far, what we’ve seen in party manifestos do not go anywhere near far enough to deliver the transformation needed to ensure the sustainability of our health and care services so they deliver for the people of Wales. It is not simply about having more beds, more diagnostic centres or more surgical hubs, we need a long-term commitment to deliver for the people of Wales.
“We need a long-term capital investment strategy to modernise NHS estates and infrastructure (including digital), an achievable plan to stabilise social care, an all-Wales long-term workforce plan for the NHS and social care workforce, joint performance and financial frameworks, and a cross-governmental shift towards prevention to drive down demand on health and care services.”
“It’s not easy but we need bravery and longer-term commitments from political parties - in line with the Well-being of Future Generations Act - so the people of Wales can live healthier, longer lives.”
