The latest NHS statistics for Wales revealed that, the median response times for ambulance red calls was 9 minutes 33 seconds, longer than the previous month and the 90th percentile also increased to 22 minutes 48 seconds, the longest recorded so far.
The Accident & Emergency department target is for no patients should wait over 12 hours, yet in January, 11,392 patients waited 12 hours or more , which is again higher than the previous month .
Performance against the 4-hour target, where 95% of new patients should spend less than 4 hours in emergency departments from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge, was 63.4%, still well below the target.
NHS treatment waiting lists remain at 740,954 pathways, the equivalent of nearly 1-in-4 Welsh people. The disparity in two-year NHS waits for treatment between Wales and England remains large, with NHS Wales two-year waits at 5,252, compared with only 223 in England.
The Labour Health Minister, now First Minister, Eluned Morgan promised to eliminate these waits for the last two years (by March 2023 and again by March 2024),but failed to meet these targets and still has not.
Commenting on the latest statistics, Peter Fox MS, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee and the new Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said:
“It is clear that after 27 years of Plaid-backed Labour Governments, our NHS is broken. In some areas, the situation is getting worse.
“Ambulance red call response times have gotten worse and the longest emergency department waits have shot up over 10%. It’s clear that Labour and Plaid are failing those in need of emergency care.
“The Welsh Conservatives have a credible plan to fix our NHS. We will declare a health emergency, increase the number of beds in our hospitals, establish an NHS Wales Reserves Service to provide additional resilience in times of peak pressureto improve patient flow and cut waits.”
The latest statistics for waiting times can be found here and a link to the latest Welsh NHS performance summary can be found here (covering December 2025 and January 2026).
- The total number of patient pathways were 740,954 in December – the equivalent of nearly 1-in-4 of the Welsh population.
- The estimated number of patients waiting for treatment was ~580,300 in December.
- Two-year waits are 5,252, compared with only 223 in England.
- The Labour Health Minister, now First Minister, Eluned Morgan promised to effectively eliminate two-year waits by March 2023 and again by March 2024, but failed to meet these targets and still has not.
- The average (median) time patient pathways had been waiting for treatment in December was 19 weeks, compared with 13.4 weeks in England in December.
- In January, the proportion of patients waiting less than 4 hours in Welsh emergency departments was 63.4%. The target is 95%.
- 11,392 patients waited 12 hours or more in Welsh emergency departments in January – the target is zero patients.
- Performance against the 62-day target for patients starting cancer treatment has decreased to 60.7% as of December, well below the target of 75%.
- For Ambulance Red calls, the median increased to 9 minutes 33 seconds and the 90th percentile also increased to 22 minutes 48 seconds, the longest recorded so far.
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