NHS Wales bosses have welcomed the Welsh Government’s new plan to combat issues with waiting times, but warned that it is likely there will continue to be an “exceptionally high level of demand” for many months.

On Monday night, health minister Eluned Morgan announced a plan to “transform planned care” and cut waiting times with an additional £60 million of investment over the next four years.

The plan will aim to ease the demands on hospital staff, with people only going to hospital when they need care, advice or services which cannot be delivered either at home or in the community.

This will include having more appointments and follow-up appointments virtually, and making diagnostic tests more widely available in the community.

Ms Morgan said: "No one will wait longer than a year for their first outpatient appointment by the end of this year.

"We will increase the speed of diagnostic tests to eight weeks and 14 weeks for therapy interventions by Spring 2024.

"No one will wait more than a year for an operation in most specialities by Spring 2025.

"80 per cent of people suspected of cancer will receive a diagnosis and start treatment within 62 days by 2026."

Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said the Welsh Government’s targets were “ambitious”, but staff would “do all they can to achieve them”.

“We welcome the Welsh Government’s planned care recovery plan in light of the significant impact the pandemic has had on non-urgent care,” he said.

“The targets set out are ambitious, but we know from past experience that NHS leaders and staff will do all they can to achieve them.

“The plan acknowledges the need to continue to build on the experiences and learnings of the pandemic.

“Over the last two years, we’ve seen countless examples of new innovations, largely brought about by staff on the ground working creatively to serve the needs of patients, which must now be embedded into the health and care system in a sustainable way.

“We want to see care delivered in new ways that best serve and support our communities in both the short and long-term.

“Unfortunately, due to the scale of the backlog and the anticipated number of people still to come forward for care, we’re likely to continue to see this exceptionally high level of demand across healthcare services for many months before it levels off.

“Those with the greatest clinical need and who have been waiting the longest will, rightly, be prioritised and the NHS will do all it can to inform and support these patients to manage their conditions while they’re waiting.”

Mr Hughes added that the NHS needed “long-term financial stability” to become a sustainable service, and this included investment in social care.

“Social care also has an enormous part to play in community wellness - keeping people well at home and preventing health issue escalation can reduce hospital visits - so growing and maintaining a sustainable social care workforce is essential to achieving these goals,” he said.