Welsh women and children are bearing the brunt of a growingly congested NHS referral to treatment waiting list.
According to Welsh Government data[1] published today, the number of people waiting to start treatment has increased by 9.31% since May last year.
The most recent figure, for May 2016, shows that 108,054 people were referred to treatment, compared to 98,845 the year before.
While the most common form of referral was for trauma and orthopaedics – seeing a year-on-year increase of 4.5% – woman and child-based healthcare has seen the greatest increase in referrals.
The number of people waiting for obstetrics treatment – the branch of medicine and surgery concerned with childbirth – has increased dramatically, from 90 people in May 2015 to 739 people in May 2016, marking a rise of 721%.
In the same period, the number of people seeking a midwifery appointment also increased significantly by 47%, while gynaecology referrals increased by 6%.
Children and adolescents waiting for psychiatric treatment also saw a rise of 13%, and paediatric referrals trailed just behind in its increase of 9%.
A separate data set[2] shows that an increase in referrals is compounded by a decrease in the number of beds available in Welsh hospitals.
In 2014 the number of available NHS beds fell by 1.6% – a loss of 180 beds overall compared to the previous year. Since 2009, the number of NHS beds in Wales has fallen by 13.6% – a loss of 1,745 beds.
Commenting on these figures, Welsh Conservative Shadow Spokesperson for Health, Angela Burns AM, said:
“It is clear from the data that health services supporting women and children are becoming overwhelmed.
“These services are understaffed and underfunded, which puts huge pressures on management who lack the capacity to cope with a growing demand.
“The knock-on effect is that patients don’t receive the timely treatment they deserve.
“This then often leads to health issues going undiagnosed, untreated and allowed to progress unabated.
“The Labour-led Welsh Government must do all in its power to ensure that health services are adequately resourced to take on the staff and equipment needed to ensure that people can progress through the system as quickly and safely as possible.”
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