Health Secretary response to latest NHS Wales performance data: December and January 2025

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Jeremy Miles, said:

I’m pleased to see positive progress in reducing long waiting times and the size of the waiting list.

There is still a long way to go and a lot of work to do. But this set of data shows the NHS plans to increase capacity and work to reduce the longest waiting times are starting to have an impact.

This is just the start. I expect to see further progress, as a result of the extra activity funded by the £50m we made available in November, in the coming months.

For the first time in nearly a year, the number of patient pathways waiting to start treatment has fallen to 800,400. Waits of more than two years fell by 3% in December, and the number of pathways waiting more than a year for a first outpatient appointment also fell.

Today, I’m visiting Neath Port Talbot Hospital to learn about how they are working towards becoming an orthopaedic and spinal care centre of excellence and have seen a dramatic improvement in waiting times for specialist orthopaedic care.

Swansea Bay University Health Board now has the lowest number of people waiting more than two years for orthopaedic care in Wales and is on course to eliminate these long waits by the end of March – this shows the benefits of regional working in action.

Cancer performance against the 62-day target was the best since August 2021, increasing to 61.9%, compared to 60.2% the previous month. More than 12,300 people received the good news they did not have cancer in December.

Despite the ongoing winter challenges, performance against the key emergency care indicators improved in January. This includes performance against the four-hour and twelve-hour emergency department targets, as well as response times to life threatening ‘red’ calls.

This is credit to staff at the Welsh Ambulance Service and in emergency departments who work tirelessly under often unrelenting pressure.

But the NHS and local authorities must work together to improve patient flow through the health and care system and build on the focus the 50-day winter challenge.