Wales sets out how it will spend £145m more on the NHS this year, with no date for ending two-year waits
Archive article. Published on Thu 3 Sept, 07:20. Conditions may have changed since this reporting.
The Welsh Government set out on Thursday 3 September how an extra £145m for the NHS in Wales this financial year will be spent. The money itself is not new: it was announced on 17 June as part of the supplementary budget for 2026-27, and Thursday's release restates it alongside the way health boards are being asked to work. The split is £100m of revenue funding to cut waiting times, £25m of capital for new surgical and diagnostic hubs, part of a plan for up to ten hubs over four years, and £20m of capital for essential maintenance across NHS buildings. It is money allocated, not money yet spent.
The clinically led approach has Health Boards working together to target the longest waits, improve productivity, expand capacity and keep transforming planned care. The aim is to bring the overall waiting list to pre-pandemic levels before the end of this Senedd term.
For patients that means more surgical capacity, including at weekends, aimed at the specialities where waits are longest. Referrals will be reviewed earlier so people get the right advice, tests or treatment first time. Many patients attend routine follow-ups that are no longer needed. Instead of being called in for routine check-ups they may not need, patients will be asked to contact the service when something is wrong. The Welsh Government says that frees tens of thousands of appointments.
Faster scanning and testing sit at the centre of it, with money in diagnostic capacity and digital tools to cut the time between referral and diagnosis. New standards will treat the people who have waited longest next, unless there is a clear clinical reason to prioritise someone else.
Mabon ap Gwynfor, the Health and Care Minister, visited Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny on Thursday to see the theatres, the regional cataract hub and the endoscopy facilities. He said: "Waiting two years for planned care is not acceptable. This investment is tied to Health Boards changing how they work, permanently, so the progress I expect to see doesn't slip back as it has in the past. That's the difference between a short-term fix and lasting change."
NHS Wales national clinical directors of planned care Richard Egan and Ken Harries said: "We welcome today's announcement. It's particularly pleasing to see the clear focus on modernisation and sustainability."