Written question WQ99958

The Welsh Government expects health boards to maximise capacity, improve productivity and deliver planned care recovery programmes to reduce long waits and improve access, while ensuring value for money and maintaining high standards of quality and safety.

Health boards are responsible for planning and securing services to meet the needs of their populations and may consider a range of options to support timely access to treatment, including arrangements with other NHS organisations and, where appropriate, independent sector providers.

The Welsh Government continues to work with NHS organisations to reduce waiting times across elective care, including orthopaedic services. In June 2026, the Welsh Government announced an additional £145 million investment in NHS Wales, including funding to support the reduction of waiting times and investment in new surgical and diagnostic hub infrastructure. An expert clinically led group has also been established to develop plans for up to 10 elective care hubs across Wales. While this work is being developed, health boards will continue to use existing planned care arrangements and available capacity to support reductions in waiting times.

Performance is measured through Welsh Government's referral-to-treatment performance framework, which measures the patient pathway from referral through to treatment and provides a consistent national measure of waiting times across specialties, including orthopaedics.

Clinical musculoskeletal assessment and treatment services, and equivalent assessment and triage services, form part of local health board arrangements and are not collected or reported as separate national RTT measures by the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government currently has no plans to introduce separate national reporting for these services. Health boards remain responsible for the management and performance of their local assessment pathways.