Written question WQ99015
- Asked by
- Llŷr PowellReform
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Minister for Health and Care
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 6 days
Question
Will the Cabinet Minister provide details of the number of patients removed from NHS waiting lists in Wales without receiving the treatment or appointment for which they were waiting in each of the last five years, broken down by local health board and reason for removal?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Minister for Health and Care (Mabon ap Gwynfor)
The Welsh Government has not made a specific assessment of the impact of patient removals on reported waiting time and waiting list statistics.
This is because routine published statistics are based on patient pathways, rather than individual patients. Referral to Treatment (RTT) data—published monthly—covers both:
• Open pathways: patients still waiting for treatment
• Closed pathways: pathways that have ended, including where patients are treated or otherwise removed from the waiting list
As activity is measured in pathways rather than people, changes to waiting time performance cannot be directly attributed to “patient removals” in isolation. Further explanation of the difference between pathways and patients is available in the Welsh Government Chief Statistician’s blog. https://digitalanddata.blog.gov.wales/2022/03/22/chief-statisticians-update-explaining-nhs-activity-and-performance-statistics/
Patient removals data
The Welsh Government does not hold centrally collected, routinely published data on the number of individual patients removed from NHS waiting lists without receiving treatment or an appointment, broken down by:
• Local health board
• Reason for removal
• Individual patient counts (as distinct from pathway closures)
As a result, the information requested for the last five years cannot be provided in the format requested.
However, RTT statistics do include information on closed pathways, which encompass all reasons a pathway ends and can be accessed at NHS waiting lists: closed referral to treatment pathways, September 2011 onwards | StatsWales
How patients are removed from waiting lists
Guidance to NHS organisations on managing waiting lists and removing patients is set out in the Planned Care Waiting Times Guidance (April 2025). Planned care waiting times guidance: April 2025
Under this guidance, a pathway may be closed (and therefore removed from RTT waiting list statistics) for a number of legitimate reasons, including:
• Treatment completed
• Patient declines treatment or no longer wishes to proceed
• Clinical decision that treatment is no longer appropriate
• Patient did not attend (DNA) appointments, following appropriate follow-up processes