Written question WQ99017

The Welsh Government does not hold centrally collected or routinely published data on the number of individual patients manually removed from NHS waiting lists over the last five years.

Specifically, it does not collect this information:

• By local health board

• By reason for removal

• As individual patient counts (separate from pathway closures)

Published Referral to Treatment (RTT) statistics record “closed pathways”, which include all cases where a pathway ends (including removal), but these are not the same as counting individual patients removed

Guidance is set out in the Planned Care Waiting Times Guidance (April 2025). This allows patients to be removed from waiting lists (i.e. pathways closed) for legitimate reasons, including:

• Treatment completed

• Patient declines or no longer wants treatment

• Clinical decision that treatment is no longer appropriate

• Patient does not attend appointments (after follow-up)

• Patient cannot be contacted

• Transfer to another provider

• Administrative reasons (for example duplicate records)

The guidance also requires that:

• Processes are consistent and auditable

• Decisions are clearly documented

• Patients are properly communicated with

• Patients are not unfairly or inappropriately Individual health boards are responsible for applying this guidance locally and ensuring proper oversight