More people are being treated in the Welsh NHS today than at any time since its creation, Health Minister Mark Drakeford has said.
Demand for NHS services has risen steadily since devolution, but the latest figures show people are being treated faster and living longer with help from the care they receive from the NHS in Wales.
Speaking ahead of a debate in the National Assembly today, the Minister revealed that in 1999 the Welsh Government inherited a NHS in which patients experienced significant waiting times. In 1999, more than 2,500 people were waiting over a year-and-a-half for an outpatient appointment. Today, 18-month waits have been completely eliminated.
Since then, there has been a 93% reduction in the number of patients waiting more than 52 weeks from initial referral by their GP to treatment (1999-00 – 6,300; April 2014 – fewer than 1,000).
The median (standard) wait for treatment at the end of April 2014 is just 10 weeks. This means more than half of the patients who joined a waiting list at Easter this year will have received their treatment by the end of June. Meanwhile, the average wait for diagnostic tests is four weeks.
The demand on the NHS has increased significantly since 1999:
- Since 1999-00, 650,000 more patients are being seen in an outpatient setting every year (1999-00 – 694,000 new outpatient attendances and 2.7 million follow-up attendances; 2011-12 – 938,000 consultant-led new outpatient attendances and 3.1 million follow-up attendances);
- There has been a more than 20% increase in the number of inpatient/day cases seen in NHS Wales (2000-01 – 275,000 elective inpatient and day cases and a total of 586,000 inpatient and day cases were seen. In 2011-12 – 362,000 elective inpatient and day cases and a total of 723,000 inpatient and day cases were seen);
- Since 1999, there has been a 16.8% increase in A&E attendances. Almost one million people are seen in A&E departments in Wales every year, which is more than 80,000 patients each month. The majority of people are seen within four hours, with half seen in less than two hours;
- The number of patients with cancer referred for treatment has trebled between 2006 and 2014 from around 2,000 a month to more than 6,000. Performance against the 31-day and 62-day cancer waiting times targets has also improved significantly – in June 2006, performance was 70% against the 62-day target and 90% for the 31-day target; in April 2014 performance was 89.7% and 98.7% respectively.
The recently-published National Survey for Wales shows people have a high level of satisfaction for the public services they access. Nine out of 10 – 92% – said they were satisfied with the care they received from their local GP at their last visit. Similarly 91% of people were satisfied with the care they received at their last appointment at an NHS hospital.
Professor Drakeford said:
“We will mark 15 years of devolution in a few weeks’ time. The NHS in Wales is performing better now than it was in 1999; more people are being seen every day; more people are living longer thanks to the help they receive. Our health service does a remarkable job in providing excellent standards of care, free at the point of need.
“Performance in some areas is still not at the level we would like it to be but improvements have been made. I am determined to ensure performance continues to improve across the NHS.
“Work is currently ongoing to develop measures and outcome indicators which are far more meaningful in terms of clinical benefit and outcomes for patients rather than concentrating solely on timeliness.”
The Minister added:
“The Nuffield report recognises NHS Wales is facing challenges both now and in the future, including rising costs, increasing demand, an ageing population, and a growth in the number of people experiencing chronic conditions – the same challenges every healthcare system in the world faces in this age of austerity.
“But it also shows NHS Wales has responded to these through a range of measures including improvements in efficiency and productivity, reductions in length of stay in hospital and hospital admissions.
“Our aim is now to ensure the NHS delivers effective treatment and our citizens and clinicians are supported to maximise health outcomes throughout Wales.”
