Our Performance

Each month Olivia Shorrocks, Director of  Performance will share an update on how our Health Board is performing, aligned to the publication of the national NHS activity and performance summary.

The performance updates are intended to provide a clear and transparent overview of where we are making progress, where we continue to face challenges, and the actions we are taking to improve services for the population we serve.

Whilst we are seeing improvement in some areas, we also recognise that there is more to do. We are committed to sustained improvement and to keeping the public, our Board and stakeholders informed on our progress.

• Health Board Meetings: BCUHB Performance Reports
• NHS activity and performance summary

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Performance updates

2026
April and May published in June 
Overview

Planned care

We continue to see a longer-term improvement in planned care, despite some increases in April 2026.

Between July 2024 and April 2025, we have reduced the number of patients waiting over two years by 77%, although this did increase by 270 patients between March and April, with further deterioration expected into May.

Our overall waiting list reduced for seven consecutive months to 176,000 at the end of March 2026, the lowest level since February 2024, before increasing by 1,700 during April.

These improvements have been supported by increased outpatient activity, including an 80% reduction in the number of patients waiting for a first outpatient appointment, and increased commissioning across ophthalmology, general surgery, ENT, urology and orthopaedics.

Despite this progress, we continue to account for over 80% of patients waiting over two years across Wales, and over 43% of diagnostic waits.

Across Wales, NHS waiting lists increased in April following a sustained period of improvement.

NHS Wales targets

• No patients waiting longer than two years in most specialties by March 2023, and no patients waiting longer than one year in most specialties by Spring 2025 (targets established in the planned care recovery plan).
• 95% of patients waiting less than 26 weeks from referral.
• No patients waiting more than 36 weeks for treatment from referral.

Diagnostics

Waiting times for diagnostic procedures within 8 weeks improved by 36% falling from 22,000 in January 2026 to below 14,000 at the end of March, this improvement has continued into April and May.

However, diagnostic waits remain a significant challenge, contributing to over 43% of the all-Wales position at the end of April.

NHS Wales targets

• The maximum wait for access to specified diagnostic tests is 8 weeks.
• The maximum wait for access to specified therapy services is 14 weeks.
• The planned care recovery plan established a target date of Spring 2024 to reach these targets.
  

Cancer

Cancer performance has reduced to 52.5% in April, against the national target of 75%, and we are currently ranked 5^th of 6 health boards.

We have seen a decline from 58% in April 2025, with some improvement earlier in the year, before a further reduction in the most recent data.

Our improvement work continues to focus on skin, colorectal, urology and breast.

NHS Wales target

• At least 75% of patients should start treatment within 62 days (without suspensions) of first being suspected of cancer.

Urgent and Emergency Care

Our urgent and emergency care services continue to operate under sustained pressure, driven by high demand, challenges with patient flow, delayed discharges and workforce constraints.

Emergency department performance remains challenged. During May 2026, 24% of patients wee waiting over 12 hours. Our target for the end of September is to reduce this to 10% or lower.

Performance against initial assessment standards also remains below target, with 43% of patients triaged within 15 minutes and a median time to clinician of 128 minutes during May.

Ambulance conveyances remain relatively stable at around 3,500 per month, with 3,580 recorded in May. In the same period, 40% of ambulance handovers were achieved within the 45-minute target.

We are delivering improvement plans focused on stabilisation, acceleration and sustainable improvement, supported by weekly monitoring. We also have specific action plans in place to improve ambulance handover performance.

Patient feedback for this period from emergency departments showed that:

• 70.8% of people rated their experience as good or very good
• 57.8% of patients said they always felt well cared for
• 68.1% felt listened to
• 67.2% felt involved in decisions about their care
• 74.6% said things were always explained clearly
• 76.7% reported always being treated with dignity and respect
• 90.8% were able to communicate in their preferred language

(2,663 responses to the All-Wales People’s Experience Survey)

NHS Wales targets

• 95% of new patients should spend less than 4 hours in emergency departments from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge.
• No patient waiting more than 12 hours in emergency departments from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge.

Mental Health

Adult mental health performance is meeting targets in many areas, particularly for assessment and starting treatment within expected times. However, some parts of the pathway especially compliance against Part B remain below target, and performance varies across services.

Children and young people’s mental health services are meeting targets in most areas. One part of the pathway Part 1b first intervention remains below the 80% target, although this has improved compared to April 2025.

NHS Wales targets

• Adult Mental Health 1a:80% of Local Primary Mental Health Support Service (LPMHSS) assessments undertaken within (up to and including) 28 days from the date of receipt of referral for adults aged 18 years and over
• Adult Mental Health 1b: 80% of therapeutic interventions started within (up to and including) 28 days following an assessment by Local Primary Mental Health Support Service (LPMHSS) for adults aged 18 years and over
• CAMHS - Part 1A: 80% Percent of Local Primary Mental Health Support Service (LMPHSS) assessments undertaken within (up to and including) 28 days from the date of receipt of referral for people aged under 18 years
• CAMHS - Part 1B: 80% Percent of therapeutic interventions started within (up to and including) 28 days following an assessment by Local Primary Mental Health Support Service (LPMHSS) for people aged under 18 years

Psychological Therapies and Neurodevelopment

Performance for psychological therapies remains below target, with 50.6% of patients waiting less than 26 weeks. 

Neurodevelopmental assessment performance  remains challenging, with 12.3% of patients waiting less than 26 weeks for ADHD or ASD assessment.

NHS Wales targets

• 80% of children and young people waiting less than 26 weeks to start an ADHD or ASD neurodevelopment assessment
  

Looking Ahead

Our focus for the end of September includes achieving 100% compliance with the 45-minute ambulance handover target and reducing the number of patients waiting over 12 hours in emergency departments to 10% or lower. We will continue to focus on reducing planned care and cancer backlogs and improving services.