PATIENT waiting time in Wales still have a 'long way to go' according to the Welsh Government who have labelled the latest NHS Wales performance data as 'disappointing'.

The figures show that, in May, just over 36,600 emergency calls were made to the ambulance service.

This was an average of 1,182 calls per day, on average 87 more calls per day than the previous month, and 30 (2.6%) more per day than the same month last year.

An average of 165 immediately life-threatening calls were made each day, 12 more than in April and the third highest on record.

45.8% of red calls received an emergency response within eight minutes. This was 2.2 percentage points lower than in April.

There was an average of 3,215 daily attendances to emergency departments, an increase compared to the previous month and performance decreased against the four and twelve hour targets.

The average (median) time spent in emergency departments increased in May compared to the previous month to two hours and forty one minutes.

The pandemic has also caused a large increase in patient pathways waiting to start treatment.

In April, the number increased from just under 768,900 to just over 775,000, the highest figure on record.

Responding to the figures, a spokesperson for the Welsh Government added: "This is a disappointing set of NHS performance figures for April and May and shows we still have a long way to go to reduce long waits which built up during the pandemic, but it should be noted that these figures may have been affected by a reduction in activity during the Easter holiday period in early April.

"The overall waiting list has grown again and, after 24 months of consecutive falls, the number of people waiting more than two years for treatment has increased."

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They added: "We have made it a priority to reduce long waiting times and today the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has met with health board chairs to instruct them to redouble their efforts to tackle these and the significant variation across Wales.

"Unprecedented levels of demand are contributing however, with more new referrals in the latest year than ever before. April saw the second highest average daily new referrals for any month on record.

"More people started their first cancer treatment in April than in March and more people were given the good news they don’t have cancer than the previous month.

"But despite treating more new and existing cancer patients in April, delivery against the cancer target fell. We are determined to improve consistency against this target for people who are referred with suspected cancer.

"These figures show the NHS is continuing to manage incredible demand for urgent and emergency care – the number of immediately life-threatening 999 calls in May was 25% higher than the previous year and demand is nearly two-and-a-half times higher than pre-pandemic levels.

"More people received a response within eight minutes compared to May last year but ambulance response times are still not where we, the ambulance service or the public want them to be.

"May saw the highest number of emergency attendances on record but performance against the four hour target remained stable. Emergency admissions also fell by 2.3%, which is a testament to the success of new services we have funded to help keep people out of hospital.

"We need to continue to provide more alternatives to emergency department care for people who do not need to go to hospital so we can safely support people in their local communities and prevent unnecessary admissions.

"We will continue to support our incredibly hard working NHS staff as they provide life-saving and life-changing care."

Director of the Welsh NHS Confederation Darren Hughes added: “There’s no doubt the latest figures make for sobering reading. NHS leaders are all too aware that this is not just a series of numbers on a page, but thousands of people’s lives being affected.

“The statistics also show sustained high levels of demand on the service, with NHS leaders telling us patients are more ill and therefore needing more treatment.

“We must acknowledge the relentless hard work of health and care staff and the care they do provide to thousands of people, day in, day out. NHS activity is at exceptionally high levels, it just cannot keep up with the record levels of demand coming in through the front door.

“The NHS cannot deliver effectively for all patients when things continue to run so hot. We need commitments from governments to longer term thinking, including focusing on prevention, shifting more care into the community, capital investment to make NHS estates more efficient and ringfenced investment so social care staff can have parity of pay. Without this, we cannot expect to see the meaningful change we all want to see.”