Loading…
NHS Wales
How long patients are currently waiting on open referral-to-treatment pathways in each Welsh local health board — from the Welsh Government's official monthly statistics (April 2026).
Wales does not have England's legal Right to Choose, so these figures are for understanding what to expect and asking informed questions — of your GP, your health board, and your representatives — rather than for switching hospitals.
Also on HospitalWaits: England (compare trusts)Scotland (by health board)
680,003 open pathways waiting. Median wait 14.8 weeks, and 9 in 10 patients are within 63 weeks. 168,412 have been waiting more than 36 weeks.
Median wait of people currently on open pathways, all specialties combined. Click a board for its specialty-by-specialty breakdown.
| Health board | Median wait | 9 in 10 within | Waiting | Over 36 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board | 16.9 weeks | 72.6 weeks | 177,595 | 51,451 |
| Aneurin Bevan University Health Board | 13.1 weeks | 56.5 weeks | 108,643 | 22,016 |
| Cardiff and Vale University Health Board | 18.8 weeks | 65 weeks | 129,615 | 37,148 |
| Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board | 15.4 weeks | 58.9 weeks | 82,970 | 19,843 |
| Hywel Dda University Health Board | 13.3 weeks | 59.3 weeks | 81,851 | 18,863 |
| Powys Teaching Health Board | 5.6 weeks | 25.2 weeks | 7,463 | 357 |
| Swansea Bay University Health Board | 12.7 weeks | 57 weeks | 86,477 | 18,432 |
Every board page breaks these down by specialty, with median and 9-in-10 waits. See Cardiff and Vale as an example →
These are open pathways— patients still waiting at the end of the month. Welsh referral-to-treatment measurement is not the same as England's: Welsh pathways include therapy and diagnostic stages, and the specialty list differs, so a Welsh figure should never be compared directly with an English one. Wales' published targets are 95% of patients within 26 weeks and 100% within 36 weeks.
Source: StatsWales, Referral to Treatment, April 2026. Open Government Licence. See methodology. “Not published” means the figure was withheld or suppressed at source — never zero.