The Spire Yale Hospital in Wrexham has seen a huge increase in patients this year compared with pre-pandemic levels. 

With NHS waiting lists continuing to increase due to current pressures and a covid backlog, more and more people are being forced to go private. 

Recent data published by Stats Wales showed 722,147 ‘patient pathways’ in May 2022.

The ‘patient pathway’ data covers the time a patient waits from their referral until they are admitted to the hospital for treatment. The data includes time spent waiting for any hospital appointments, tests, surgery, scans, or other procedures.

The data also showed there was 260,859 people waiting nine months or more for treatment, which is an increase of 2,670 on the previous month.

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As the waits increase, Wrexham residents are being left with no other option than to go private. 

One resident was waiting over two years for a hip replacement before his family took out a £13,000 loan to get it done privately. 

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Spire Hospital in Wrexham has seen a massive 65% increase in patients in the first part of this year compared to 2019. 

Sue Jones, Hospital Director, Spire Yale, said: “Spire Yale saw a 65% increase in the number of outpatient consultations with self-funded patients, comparing the first half of 2022 with the first half of 2019, pre-pandemic.

"As waiting lists rise, patients turn to Spire in the knowledge that they will get fast access to diagnosis and treatment with an expert consultant.

"Every private patient who comes to Spire means that there is one fewer potential patient on an NHS waiting list.”

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