The NHS

Statistics published by the Welsh Government. Each chart covers the years since the 2016 Senedd election, or as far back as the figures go, and marks each election since.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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The Programme for Government 2026 to 2030 belongs to the Seventh Senedd. Choose the Seventh Senedd to see how often each commitment has come up.

Source: Welsh Government, Programme for government 2026 to 2030: New ambition for Wales, first published on 10 September 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Mentions are found by matching the names of plans, bodies and schemes; a mention says nothing about progress.

The Welsh Government's latest press releases and Cabinet statements on this brief.

1. Cabinet statement, 1 October 2026

   New Chair of Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust

   Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, Cabinet Minister for Health and Care

The latest headlines on this brief, linking to each outlet's story.

• Air ambulance releases statement after emergency lading in residential playing fields

  South Wales Argus, 23 October 2026

Statements, debates and legislation in Plenary on this brief, newest first. Oral question sessions are counted in the contributions below.

1. 13 January 2026Statement

   NHS Winter Pressures

   Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

   Opened by Y Llywydd / The Llywydd29 contributions

2. 7 January 2025Statement

   NHS winter pressures

   Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

   Opened by Y Dirprwy Lywydd / The Deputy Presiding Officer14 contributions

3. 16 January 2024Statement

   Winter pressures in healthcare

   Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services

   Opened by Y Llywydd / The Llywydd22 contributions

No votes in the Sixth Senedd have been tagged with this.

Votes are tagged from their own titles and the agenda item they were held under.

Ministers' meetings with outside organisations and their engagements on this brief, from the register the Welsh Government publishes every three months. 1 since the 2026 election:

1. 02/20/2023

   Fforwm Arweinyddiaeth Mudiad Prif Weithredwyr Ambiwlansau / Association of Ambulance Chief Executives Leadership Forum

   Meeting, Min for HSS

Source: Welsh Government, ministerial meetings and engagements. The register is published three months or more after the meetings it lists.

• 74% of Welsh adults said the NHS would be very important to their vote.

Ipsos asked 747 Welsh adults aged 16+ between 2 April 2026 and 8 April 2026, before the 2026 Senedd election. People could choose as many issues as they liked. More on public opinion.

No written questions on this brief in the Sixth Senedd yet.

4 petitions to the Senedd on this brief, open ones first, then by signatures:

1. Urgent Pembrokeshire Healthcare & Resident Safety - Withybush Hospital & Health Board Intervention

   Closed

   11,496 signatures

2. Maintain 24 hour access to the Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) at Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli.

   Closed

   969 signatures

3. Bring back the A&E department at the Royal Gwent Hospital.

   Closed

   484 signatures

4. Declare a Welsh National Health Emergency

   Closed

   417 signatures

Committee sessions where this brief was on the agenda, newest first.

1. 15 May 2024Health and Social Care Committee

   General scrutiny session with the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust

   108 contributions

Articles by Senedd Research, the Senedd's impartial research service, on this brief, published in the Sixth Senedd.

1. Bridging the gap: Tackling delays in hospital discharge

   7 November 2025

   With winter pressures on the horizon, the Senedd will debate ways to reduce hospital discharge delays on Wednesday 12 November.

More from Senedd Research on this subject

Titles and summaries are Senedd Research's own, © Senedd Commission. How we match articles to briefs.

580 contributions in the Sixth Senedd, newest first.

1. Jeremy MilesLabour

   21 January 2026, Plenary

   Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

   The average time spent by patients in emergency departments in November was 2 hours and 53 minutes. However, time spent by many patients in departments before admission or discharge is concerning. In response to this, we've escalated health boards for poor performance, we've invested £200 million to…

   Tagged for: “emergency departments”Official Record

2. Mark IsherwoodConservative

   21 January 2026, Plenary

   Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

   4. What action is the Welsh Government taking to reduce accident and emergency waiting times? OQ63680

   Tagged for: “accident and emergency”Official Record

3. Mabon ap GwynforPlaid

   21 January 2026, Plenary

   Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

   …For example, an FOI request by Plaid Cymru has revealed there were 17,994 attendances at Betsi's emergency departments in 2025. That's an average of almost 50 a day, which ultimately resulted in the patients self-discharging without clinical consent. In other words, they were either not treated at…

   Tagged for: “emergency departments”Official Record

4. Darren MillarConservative

   21 January 2026, Plenary

   Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

   …people who contact us with unacceptable delays, and sometimes people die because they're waiting for an ambulance, and that can never be acceptable. Let me give some other examples of why I believe the Welsh NHS is in a crisis. You don't have to look very far—just to the University Hospital of Wales…

   Tagged for: “ambulance”Official Record

5. Jeremy MilesLabour

   21 January 2026, Plenary

   Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

   …is a symptom, as he says, of challenges right across the health service, and I think it goes beyond the ambulance service. My experience of working with the ambulance service is that they are innovative and flexible, and looking for new ways constantly of delivering the important service that they…

   Tagged for: “ambulance”, “ambulances”Official Record

6. Darren MillarConservative

   21 January 2026, Plenary

   Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

   …a 90-year-old woman from Wyesham in Monmouthshire, Iris Morgan, waited for more than 32 hours for an ambulance after breaking her hip while at home. During that time, she became increasingly delirious, she developed a serious infection, and she was told by hospital consultants that that delay could…

   Tagged for: “ambulance”Official Record

7. Mark DrakefordLabour

   21 January 2026, Finance Committee

   Welsh Government Final Budget 2026-27: Evidence session

   …can improve the conditions that people live in, you don’t get that, you don't get people arriving in ambulances into A&E in winter time, and so on. And I think we're very conscious of that and there's a lot of discussion that goes on and pooled budgets that, between local government and heath, focus…

   Tagged for: “ambulances”, “A&E”Official Record

8. Eluned MorganLabour

   20 January 2026, Plenary

   Questions to the First Minister

   …at this time of year, and we recognise that more needs to be done to ensure that we do not see that corridor care that compromises patient privacy and dignity. We have given £200 million in support this year for health boards and regional partnerships. You ask about staffing, well, in Wales, we've…

   Tagged for: “corridor care”, “same-day emergency care”Official Record

9. Lindsay WhittlePlaid

   20 January 2026, Plenary

   Questions to the First Minister

   As a loyal member of Plaid Cymru, can I thank the First Minister? The issue of corridor care in our hospitals, of course, is a deeply alarming indicator of the severe pressures facing the Welsh NHS. It represents a fundamental failure to uphold the dignity and basic comfort of vulnerable patients. I…

   Tagged for: “corridor care”Official Record

10. Eluned MorganLabour

    20 January 2026, Plenary

    Questions to the First Minister

    …spaces in hospitals, including corridors, by helping them to expand clinical capacity, improve patient flow, and setting out ways for them to accelerate safe discharge pathways.

    Tagged for: “patient flow”Official Record

11. Lindsay WhittlePlaid

    20 January 2026, Plenary

    Questions to the First Minister

    4. What action is the Welsh Government taking to tackle the corridor care crisis? OQ63678

    Tagged for: “corridor care”Official Record

12. Chris Ball

    15 January 2026, Health and Social Care Committee

    Improving access to support for unpaid carers: evidence session with local health board representatives

    …reduced as much as possible, let alone the pressures that that has on hospital flow, which it has on ambulances, and which then has an impact on actually supporting some of the most vulnerable people out in the community. I think my understanding is that there is a clinical responsibility to ensure…

    Tagged for: “ambulances”Official Record

13. Mark IsherwoodConservative

    15 January 2026, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee

    COVID-19: evidence session with the Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS, First Minister of Wales

    …brought in after the fact. I think that's the key point they're trying to raise. For example, the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust referred to the importance of creating a central repository of volunteers and integrating volunteer capacity into local resilience forum planning. What…

    Tagged for: “Ambulance”Official Record

14. Mike HedgesLabour

    15 January 2026, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee

    COVID-19: evidence session with the Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS, First Minister of Wales

    Thank you. Now, moving on further on data, the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust described the current legislative landscape for data sharing as a minefield. I've got comments on that. We also heard how, during recent flooding, the Monmouthshire statutory agencies were not able to share…

    Tagged for: “Ambulance”Official Record

15. Jeremy MilesLabour

    13 January 2026, Plenary

    Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: NHS Winter Pressures

    Cardiff and Vale has been involved in the planning with every other health board since March of last year, so it's a collaborative process and it's been ongoing for a long time and earlier than in other years in order to be able to create more capacity. There will be things that emerge during the…

    Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Winter Pressures”Official Record

This brief follows the Programme commitments listed above and tags the record with the phrases below. Keyword matching can miss business that discusses the issue in other words, and can tag a passing mention.

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