Question – How often is the waiting time information updated on the website?

Answer – The waiting time information is updated once a month. Each local health board provides a snapshot of their waiting times as at last day of each month and this is used to calculate the average (median) waiting times shown.

Question – I live in Powys / Betsi Cadwaladr local health board but have been referred to or are under the care of a hospital in England. Where can I find out information about my waiting times?

Answer – This website only provides information for services provided by local health boards in Wales. Information relating waiting times in England can be found at www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk.

Question – What is a ‘first outpatient appointment’?

Answer – This is your first appointment with a clinician following a referral from your GP or other medical practitioner. Your appointment may be face to face, online or by telephone.

Question – What is ‘start of treatment’?

Answer – Start of treatment could include the following:

• you could be admitted to hospital for an operation, procedure or treatment
• you could be given treatment which doesn’t require a hospital stay, for example, medication or physiotherapy
• you could begin the process of fitting a medical device such as leg braces
• you could start an agreed period of time to monitor your condition to assess whether further treatment is required.

Question – Why is the speciality I’m waiting for greyed out and not clickable?

Answer – Specialties which have less than 200 patient pathways are greyed out because there is not enough data to calculate reliable average (median) waiting times.

Question - Why is the waiting time for a first outpatient appointment / start of treatment longer in some specialties than others?

Answer – Within Wales there are national waiting times targets intended to apply to all specialities. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, waiting times have increased, and the impact is not the same in every speciality and health board. The NHS is working hard to improve waiting times over time.

Question - Why is the waiting time for a first outpatient appointment / start of treatment longer in some local health boards than others?

Answer – Within Wales there are national waiting times targets intended to apply to all Local Health Boards. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, waiting times have increased, and the impact is not the same in every speciality and health board. The NHS is working hard to improve waiting times over time.

Question – What is the average (median) waiting time?

Answer – The average (median) waiting time is the middle waiting time if all the waits are ordered from the shortest to the longest. Half of patients are waiting less than the average (median) waiting time and half are waiting longer.

shortest waiting time

average (median) waiting time

longest waiting time

Question – What do we mean ‘10% of people are waiting X weeks or more’?

Answer – This shows that of all the patients on a waiting list, how long the longest 10% of patients are currently waiting to be seen or start treatment. This is an indication of some of the longest waiting times. 90% of patients on the waiting list are currently waiting less than this time

Question – Why is the average (median) wait for a first outpatient appointment longer than the average (median) wait from referral to start of treatment?

Answer – This may seem surprising, but can happen when, for example, some urgent pathways progress quickly to start of treatment, bringing the overall average (median) down.