First Minister rejects north Powys patient waiting times claim

The row over NHS waiting times in north Powys has taken a new turn after the First Minister rejected claims that recent Welsh Government statements on waits were misleading, a position that has been challenged by Montgomeryshire’s Member of the Senedd.

Russell George MS wrote to the First Minister last week after the Health Secretary told the Senedd that “in Swansea and Powys, no one is waiting more than two years for treatment or more than a year for an outpatient appointment.”  

But Mr George said those figures don’t stack up for people in Powys, where most secondary care is provided outside the county because there is no district general hospital. Powys patients often travel to Shropshire, Herefordshire or other parts of Wales for treatment, and those waits do count for local people. 

In his response, Mr George said the Welsh Government’s wording creates a false impression. “It implies that nobody in Powys is waiting long, when in fact that only applies if you ignore the people being treated outside the county,” he said.

“It’s pretty disappointing that the First Minister’s reply doesn’t acknowledge how much Powys residents rely on hospitals in England or that those waits are being missed in performance data, official statements, and the way funding is calculated.”

Earlier reports at Powys Teaching Health Board meetings show worrying waits for specific services, with some patients in danger of enduring more than five years for surgery at hospitals just over the border. 

Mr George pointed to this as evidence of the gap between official statistics and the lived experience of local people. “Patients deserve honesty, not headline-friendly stats that fall apart when you scratch beneath the surface,” he said in the Senedd. 

He also urged a rethink in how waiting times are reported, to bring greater transparency and context for rural communities like Powys, rather than continuing with figures that appear designed to fit targets rather than reflect reality.

The Welsh Government, for its part, maintains that its published figures are correct under current reporting rules, which count only treatment organised through Powys Teaching Health Board, excluding places where most residents actually receive care. Critics argue this approach fails to give residents a true picture of how long they wait.