NHS waiting times statistics for inpatients, day cases and outpatients and angiograms

What do we want to change?

The NHS inpatient and outpatient component waiting times have been published for a number of years and have been used to measure the waiting times for the first outpatient and inpatient stages of a patient’s treatment pathway. Waits for angiograms have also been reported in recent years.

However, the Welsh Assembly Government now publishes monthly data on NHS Referral to Treatment Times, which measures the total waiting time from GP referral to treatment. This information has been published since January 2009, and is now the main source of information on NHS waiting times.

The proposal is therefore that the Inpatient and Outpatient and Angiogram Waiting Times collection and publication should be dropped as soon as is practicable following the consultation. It is also proposed that remaining monthly data relating to waiting times for NHS hospital services will in future be published together. You are invited to comment on this proposal.

Consultation outcome

The conclusion of the consultation was that waiting times data collections and publication for outpatient appointments, inpatient/day-case admissions and for angiograms will cease after the publication of data for March 2010. A data flow will be maintained for those areas not covered by Referral to Treatment times reporting.

As a result, the monthly publication of those specific statistics will cease after this publication. Publication of other NHS waiting times data such as referral to treatment times and waits for diagnostic and therapy services are not affected.