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Patients who miss two appointments without good cause will be removed from waiting lists for NHS treatment, Wales’ health secretary announced.

Jeremy Miles warned more than 700,000 appointments are missed each year, with 14% of all outpatient appointments lost because people do not turn up or cannot attend.

 “That’s not right and it’s not sustainable,” said the Labour politician. “And it doesn’t help us to make sure the public gets faster access to the care they need.

“So, in future, we will provide patients with two offers of dates for an NHS appointment. If those appointments are not kept without a good reason, they will be removed from the list so that their place can be taken by somebody else.

“Every person’s circumstance will be considered. Patients who are vulnerable and children will be protected but we want patients to keep their appointments or to cancel in good time so their place can be taken by someone else.”

‘Part of the solution’

James Evans, the Conservatives’ shadow health secretary, responded: “I tend to agree with that. We need to make sure the public do actually take a bit more responsibility with their appointments within the NHS but I do urge a little bit of caution.

“And I just need to make sure… this policy is not going to unfairly penalise vulnerable people, those who struggle to get transport, especially in Powys, for example, where people have to rely on public transport to get to appointments. It’s not always readily available.

Mr Evans cautioned that people who struggle with their mental health sometimes cannot go to appointments, with the minister reiterating that vulnerable people will be protected.

Urging people to do all they can to keep appointments, Mr Miles added: “It is really important that that capacity is available for patients who are able to take up those appointments. We all want to see access to care becoming faster, and so that’s an important part of the solution.

“It’s a partnership approach between the [Welsh] Government and the NHS on the one hand and the public on the other, and my anecdotal reading of it is that people do understand that that is an important part of the way forward.”

‘Good progress’

In a Senedd statement about waiting lists on June 3, Mr Miles stressed that reducing long waits is his number one priority as he pointed to some signs of good progress.

“We’ve seen the waits of more than two years falling by two-thirds,” he said. “At the end of March, long waits fell to… just under 8,400. This is the lowest level since April 2021.

“The size of the overall waiting list had reduced for the fourth month in a row.”

Mr Miles, who was appointed in September, said the health service will commission the private sector to carry out a significant number of treatments.

He recognised the problem is most acute in north Wales and emphasised : “I expect the health board to meet its plans to significantly reduce long waits.”

‘Baseless targets’

Mr Miles told the Senedd: “We will reset and reduce the overall size of the list by March 2026, bringing it back towards pre-pandemic levels.

“It is within our grasp to reduce the size of our waiting list by as much as 200,000 pathways over the next year.”

But Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru’s shadow health secretary, warned Welsh ministers have failed to hit their own targets from 2022 despite moving the goalposts multiple times.

He asked: “What measure of success is seeing over 8,000 people waiting over two years… after promising that no person would be waiting for more than two years by March of 2023?”

Mr ap Gwynfor added: “With finite resources, we must prioritise the right things, rather than introducing a wide range of baseless targets.”

‘Fair funding’

He called for a fair funding settlement for Wales from next week’s UK spending review, saying:  “The current system and settlement fail entirely to provide resources in proportion with the needs of Wales: older people, more ill health and greater poverty levels.”

Mr ap Gwynfor welcomed a recent improvement but pointed out that 600,000 people – almost one in five of the population – continues to wait for treatment.

Labour’s Hannah Blythyn welcomed positive progress, with two-year waits down 67% over the past three years and more than 12,000 patients coming off the list.

She said: “We should be honest here that the progress has been made possible thanks to additional investment made possible by two Labour governments working together.”

Rhys ab Owen, an independent, expressed concerns about a shortage of anaesthetists, warning it will ultimately lead to the cancellation of treatments and longer waiting lists.