The Royal College of Surgeons of England has warned that Wales is in danger of slipping unless progress on surgical hubs and workforce growth accelerates.
Ahead of the Senedd Elections, the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) has warned that Wales is in danger of slipping further behind the rest of the UK unless progress on surgical hubs and workforce growth accelerates.
The latest figures show a decrease in the total number of patient pathways, falling from just under 741,000 in December last year to just over 713,000 in January. Since the waiting list reached its post-Covid peak of 802,268 in November 2024, only 89,220 pathways have been removed, it said.
Launching its Senedd Election manifesto, the College called on the next Welsh Government to expand long-term surgical capacity through new surgical hubs and to publish a comprehensive workforce strategy for health and social care. The College says both measures are essential to accelerating reductions in waits and supporting an overstretched workforce.
“Behind every statistic is someone living in pain and waiting too long for treatment. Without dedicated, protected space for planned operations, waiting lists in Wales will continue to be disrupted by winter pressures and spikes in emergency demand,” said RCS England’s director in Wales Jon Barry.
“Without urgent action now, patients across Wales will continue to face long waits for surgery,” he continued.
Only one operational hub
Surgical hubs are used across the UK to separate planned operations from emergency pressures and protect elective capacity. Wales currently has just one operational hub for a population of 3.2 million. England has more than 120, and Northern Ireland has six for a population of 1.9 million.
Findings from the UK Surgical Workforce Census last year reinforce the scale of the challenge. A higher proportion of surgeons in Wales than in any other UK nation reported difficulty accessing operating theatres, with six in ten (60.5%) citing it as a major barrier to delivering care. Almost two-thirds (63.7%) reported burnout, highlighting the strain on the surgical workforce.
To accelerate progress, RCS England is calling for the Welsh Government to deliver a Surgical Hub Implementation Group, bringing together NHS Wales organisations, clinical leaders and the Royal Colleges, and a minimum of four surgical hubs, established on existing NHS sites within its first year.
The manifesto also sets out further priorities, including cosmetic surgery regulation, improved reporting mechanisms, data collection and transparency for sexual misconduct and harassment, and child dental health to understand why progress on reducing childhood dental decay has stalled.
