Welsh NHS likely to miss waiting lists target ahead of crucial election

Welsh NHS likely to miss waiting lists target ahead of crucial election37 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGareth Lewis,Wales political editorandOwain Clarke,Wales health correspondentGetty ImagesThe targets include promises to cut waiting lists by 200,000 and eliminating waits of two years or moreThe Welsh government's key pre-election health targets look set to be missed, BBC Wales analysis suggests.The targets include promises to cut waiting lists by 200,000, eliminating waits of two years or more, and making sure nobody is waiting more than eight weeks for diagnostic tests.Analysis suggests the health service will likely fall short of achieving the targets - which were set out by the Health Secretary Jeremy Miles in April 2025 - despite considerable progress.Official figures will be published on Thursday, and will give voters a final snapshot of NHS Wales' performance before election day on 7 May, following a campaign where the state of the NHS has been a key issue.The monthly statistics will show the length of waiting lists as well as how emergency care and cancer services are also failing to meet key performance measures.In a speech to health leaders in April last year, Miles said tackling waiting would be his "number one priority" promising that the government would reduce the overall size of the list by March 2026 and bring it back towards pre-pandemic levels.The targets were backed up by £120m of extra funding which he said would be targeted at providing more outpatient appointments, diagnostic tests and treatments, including more than 20,000 cataract operations.For the first of these targets to be met, the Welsh NHS would need to make a bigger reduction in the number of people waiting for planned treatments, over the course of a single month, than has ever been achieved before, the BBC's analysis suggests.The proportionately large numbers still waiting two years or longer for planned treatment in north Wales will makes...