We must focus on reducing demand, now and in the future
Urgent and emergency care
In July there were 5,181 red (life threatening) calls to the ambulance service, 14.5% of all calls.
In July, an average of 167 immediately life-threatening calls were made each day, 4 fewer than in June and the fourth highest on record.
48.2% of red calls received an emergency response within eight minutes. This was 1.7 percentage points higher than in June.
Scheduled care
The number of overall patient pathways waiting to start treatment continues to rise. In June, the number increased from just over 787,900 to just over 791,500, the highest figure on record.
The number of pathways closed following the patient being informed they did not have cancer increased to 14,600.
Cancer performance increased against the 62 day target in June to 56.7%, compared to 55.4% the previous month.
Responding to the NHS performance statistics for June and July, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation Darren Hughes said:
“NHS leaders and frontline staff have become used to the levels of pressure we used to only see in the bleakest of winter months, throughout the year.
“Demand on the system remains exceptionally and consistently high, with the number of immediately life-threatening 999 calls to the ambulance service each day the fourth highest on record.
“What these statistics don’t show is the whole-system picture – the pressures across primary care, community care, mental health services and social care. The ability to discharge medically fit patients from hospital remains a huge challenge for all health boards due to the immense pressures in social care, despite best efforts in joint working with local authority partners. Unless there is more sustainable investment in social care, this will remain the case.
“Earlier this week, we called for the new First Minister to prioritise improving the future health of the population across all government departments, and how we transform services to meet changing needs, as she determines the Welsh Government’s priorities for the next 18 months.
“The NHS cannot deliver effectively for all patients when things continue to run so hot. Unless we move away from siloes and short-termism and move towards a collaborative, long-term planning approach, demand on health and care services will continue to grow unsustainably.
“We need commitments from governments to longer term thinking, including focusing on prevention, shifting more care into the community, capital investment to make NHS estates more efficient and ringfenced investment so social care staff can have parity of pay. Without this, we cannot expect to see the meaningful change we all want to see.”
