Commenting on the latest NHS waiting times, Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan said that waiting lists falling nine months in a row was “the biggest sustained drop on record”.
She said the average wait for treatment was now 16.7 weeks, down from 23 weeks when she became first minister, adding: “That’s real progress.”
Plaid Cymru spokesperson for health and social care Mabon ap Gwynfor said the party pledged to deliver 10 new surgical hubs, specialising in treatments with the highest waits.
Peter Fox, Welsh Conservative spokesperson for health and social care, said patients were “paying the price” for missed targets.
The Conservatives say they would declare a “health emergency” to increase the number of beds in hospitals and create a Cancer Treatments Fund for “innovative, life-saving treatments for cancer”.
Reform UK said it would “put resources wasted on bureaucrats back into primary care, properly workforce plan to end our reliance on costly agency staff, restore the NHS estate and hold failing managers to account”.
The Greens said the figures show a “system stuck in crisis”. The party pledges to shift into prevention and early treatment, to ease the pressure on hospitals in the longer term.
The Lib Dems have been contacted for comment.
