New service to provide extra support for people on waiting lists

3 March 2025

People in North Wales who are waiting for procedures and surgery are now receiving further support thanks to the launch of a new service.

The Self Care While You Prepare service provides one single point of contact for the patient, the team listens to their concerns, advise on healthy behaviours to better manage their symptoms and signpost them to a wide variety of resources and services.

They also help people prepare for treatment to ensure they get the best results, this will include access to services like health and wellbeing courses, in-person or remote.

Michelle Rigby, Strategic Lead for the Self Care While You Prepare service, said: “Towards the end of 2024 we launched our new service, although we are still a small team we will be developing over the next year.

“Our aim is to support those people who are on waiting lists and try to prevent any worsening of their conditions, promote healthy decisions and work with them to ensure that they are as fit as possible and ready for their treatment when the time comes.

“We have been contacting patients who are on our Orthopaedic and Ophthalmology waiting lists to offer them support but we will also be contacting patients from all other specialities by the end of March as our team grows. We also take calls from anyone who would like further support whilst they are waiting.”

The service was launched on the back of the Welsh Government’s national 3Ps Waiting Well Policy, which aims to ensure that people waiting for treatment in Wales have the support and information they need.

For more information on the service and for further support and information for people awaiting appointments surgery and treatment, as well as caregivers can be found on our website