Last week, Welsh Health Secretary Jeremy Miles announced £28 million to help the NHS cut the longest waiting times in Wales.
The funding will pay for more evening and weekend appointments to target backlog in specialties with the longest waiting times, such as gynaecology. The interventions are designed to cut the number of people waiting more than two years for treatment, and ensure more people receive diagnostic tests within 8 weeks.
We are pleased to see the Welsh Government specifically mention the urgent need to reduce gynaecology backlog as waiting lists for this speciality have grown faster than any other elective speciality since 2020, and are now more than double the size they were prior to the pandemic.
With the average diagnosis time for endometriosis in Wales the longest in the UK at 9 years and 11 months, we welcome this announcement from the Welsh Government. We will be writing to the Health Minister to ensure that non-cancerous gynaecology, specifically menstrual health conditions like endometriosis, are adequately funded and not forgotten.
