NHS Wales to get £145m boost for waiting lists and hubs

An extra £145m will be invested in NHS Wales this financial year, the Welsh government has said.

Health minister Mabon ap Gwynfor said he wanted to end Labour's "sticking plaster" approach by tackling long-term waiting lists and diagnosing people faster.

A total of £100m will be spent on reducing waiting times with £25m invested in new surgical and diagnostic hubs.

Ken Skates, Welsh Labour interim leader and health spokesperson, said NHS waiting lists had fallen in Wales for the past 10 months because of "investment from the last Welsh Labour government".

Almost half of the Welsh government's £27bn budget for 2026/27 is spent on the NHS and social care with Plaid Cymru inheriting Welsh Labour's spending plan.

The funding commitment boost is part of the Welsh government's supplementary budget for the next financial year.

The government says £20m of capital funding will also be spent on "essential maintenance" across the NHS estate.

Ap Gwynfor said £100m would be spent on getting 24-month waits down "in the short term and then putting more capacity into the system so that we do not reach that point again".

He said investing money in equipment such as mobile CT scanners would help tackle backlogs.

The health minister also criticised the previous Welsh Labour government, and said the previous administration "looked at the problem and put a sticking plaster on it".

"They were just dealing concentrating on short term solutions without dealing with long term problems".

"What we're doing is putting money into that early intervention so that we don't reach that position again, making sure that we improve the diagnostics, that we identify those pathways and validate them properly so that people get put on the right lists, getting the right treatment instead of languishing on a long list for several years."

The Welsh government plans include developing up to 10 surgical and diagnostic hubs over the next four years, while the minister said investing money in equipment such as mobile CT scanners would help tackle backlogs.

Ap Gwynfor also called on NHS bosses to "take control immediately" of a north Wales hospital emergency department following serious concerns about patient safety.

The unit at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Denbighshire has been designated as needing significant improvements over issues including leadership, governance, culture and overcrowding following an inspection last month.

The health minister told BBC Wales he was disappointed and expected Betsi Cadwaladr health board chiefs to act.

Ap Gwynfor said he wanted to assure people that the emergency unit was safe to attend and government officials were monitoring the situation "regularly".

Skates said: "NHS waiting lists have fallen in Wales for the past 10 months, people are being seen faster because of the hard work of NHS staff and investment from the last Welsh Labour government.

"The Plaid Cymru government said they had a costed plan but they can't even get their story straight about how long it'll take for waiting lists to fall.

"Reviews and consultations won't cut it, people want to see action."