A monthly report summarising data on activity and performance in the Welsh NHS. It includes the latest available monthly information plus a summary of long term trends.

1. NHS Activity &
Performance Summary
October/November
2019
19 December 2019

2. A&E performance against the 4
hour target decreased this month,
and more patients spent longer
than 12 hours in A&E. The number of patients
waiting over 8 weeks
for diagnostic services
and over 14 weeks for
therapy services
decreased.
The percentage of patients waiting less
than 26 weeks from referral to treatment
remained the same and the number
waiting longer than 36 weeks increased.
The average number
of daily referrals
received increased
over the month.
The percentage of cancer
patients starting treatment within
the target time increased for
patients on both the urgent and
not via urgent pathways.
Average daily calls
to the ambulance
service increased
from last month;
the target was not
met for the first
time since the new
clinical response
model was
introduced.
The number of
delayed
transfers of care
increased this
month.

3. 81.4% of patients
newly diagnosed with cancer
via the Urgent route started
treatment within target time
(62 days), up 1.1 percentage
points from September.
96.9% of patients
newly diagnosed with cancer
not via the Urgent route
started treatment within
target time (31 days), up 0.7
percentage points from
September.
NHS Cancer Waiting Times
October
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Apr-12 Apr-13 Apr-14 Apr-15 Apr-16 Apr-17 Apr-18 Apr-19
Percentageofpatients
Percentage of patients starting treatment
within the target times
Not via Urgent suspected route
Urgent Suspected route
Source: Cancer waiting times data, Welsh Local Health Boards

4. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Sep-
11
Mar-
12
Sep-
12
Mar-
13
Sep-
13
Mar-
14
Sep-
14
Mar-
15
Sep-
15
Mar-
16
Sep-
16
Mar-
17
Sep-
17
Mar-
18
Sep-
18
Mar-
19
Sep-
19
PercentageofPatientPathways
Waiting less than 36 weeks Waiting less than 26 weeks
Patientpathways waitingto start treatment
Source: Referral to treatment times, NHS Wales Informatics Services (NWIS)
84.8% of patient
pathways waiting to start
treatment in October had
been waiting less than
26 weeks, the same as
September.
Referral to Treatment Times
October
21,145 patient
pathways had been
waiting over 36 weeks to
start treatment in October,
an increase of 2,369 since
September.

5. 0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
Oct-09 Oct-10 Oct-11 Oct-12 Oct-13 Oct-14 Oct-15 Oct-16 Oct-17 Oct-18 Oct-19
Numberofpatients
Diagnostics waiting over 8 weeks
Therapies waiting over 14 weeks
Source: Diagnostic and therapy services waiting times, NHS Wales Informatics Service
Number of patients waiting over the standard time for
diagnostic and therapy services
382 people were
waiting over 14 weeks
for therapy services in
October, a decrease of
126 compared to
September.
NHS diagnostic and therapy service waiting times
October
3,881 patients were
waiting over 8 weeks for
diagnostic services in
October, a decrease of
752 compared to
September.

6. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Apr-12
Jul-12
Oct-12
Jan-13
Apr-13
Jul-13
Oct-13
Jan-14
Apr-14
Jul-14
Oct-14
Jan-15
Apr-15
Jul-15
Oct-15
Jan-16
Apr-16
Jul-16
Oct-16
Jan-17
Apr-17
Jul-17
Oct-17
Jan-18
Apr-18
Jul-18
Oct-18
Jan-19
Apr-19
Jul-19
Oct-19
Percentofpatients
Time spent in NHS accident and emergency
departments
Under 12 hours
Under 4 hours
Source: Emergency Department Data Set (EDDS)
Time spent in NHS accident and emergency departments
November
5,890 patients
spent 12 hours or
more in A&E in
November, 310 more
than in October.
74.4% of
patients spent less
than 4 hours in A&E
in November, 0.9
percentage points less
than in October.

7. Delayed Transfers of Care
November
513 delayed
transfers of care
were reported in the
November 2019
census, up from
481 in October
2019.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
'05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 '18 '19
Delayed Transfers of Care: October 2004 to November
2019
Delays
Last 3 months average
Source: Delayed transfers of care database, NHS Wales Informatics Services (NWIS)
NOTE: an increase in October 2009 was probably partly due to revised procedures

8. Ambulance services
November
The percentage of red calls arriving at the
scene within 8 minutes in November 2019
was below the 65% target for the first time.
Please see note on the next page.

9. Ambulance services
November
Ambulance response times
As part of the continual review of the clinical response model, the Welsh
Ambulance Service regularly reviews call handling practices and the
categorisation of incidents. An update to call handling practices this summer
appears to have resulted in an increased Red incident volume. Further work
is being undertaken to understand this change. Therefore, it is not possible to
compare red incident volumes in recent months at present. Increases in red
incident volumes may also impact on performance due to the additional
resources required to attend a red incident.

10. Web Links
NHS Cancer Waiting Times
NHS activity and performance summary dashboard
StatsWales
Annual publication
Referral to Treatment Times
NHS activity and performance summary dashboard
StatsWales
Annual publication
NHS diagnostic and therapy service waiting
times
NHS activity and performance summary dashboard
StatsWales
Annual publication
Ambulance services
NHS activity and performance summary dashboard
StatsWales
Annual publication
Delayed Transfers of Care
NHS activity and performance summary dashboard
StatsWales
Annual publication
Time spent in NHS accident and emergency
departments
NHS activity and performance summary dashboard
StatsWales
Annual publication
Further information
Contact: stats.healthinfo@gov.wales