Waiting times

26 May 2022

Dear

ATISN 16305 – Waiting Times

Thank you for your request to the Welsh Government for information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) received on 28 April 2022.  As referenced in our email dated 09 May 2022, you have requested the following:

1. You refer to the House of Commons Library document ‘Pension tax rules – impact on NHS Consultants and GPs’ and ask for the following: 
   1. How many Consultants, Senior Medical Staff and others earned above the threshold (each pf the 3 categories please)?
   2. Can figures be supplied for the whole of Wales and separately for BCUHB?

2. Further financial allocations have been made to reduce waiting lists.  You wish to know:
   1. Where exactly was the £250 million spent
   2. What were the instructions and guidance given to the Boards?
   3. How was this monitored?

Our response

1. Welsh Government does not hold this information. You may wish to contact the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership payroll department. Contact details below

Tim Knifton

Information Governance Manager,

4-5 Charnwood Court,

Heol Billingsley,

Parc Nantgarw,

Cardiff

CF15 7QZ

E-mail: shared.services@wales.nhs.uk

Tel: 02920 902272

2 a/b The funding was allocated in two tranches.  Allocation 1 was of £100 million and was allocated at the start of the 2021-22 financial year, whilst allocation 2 was for £148 million (£100 million revenue and £48 million capital) and was issued later in the year.  All health organisations were asked to submit proposals against the initial £100 million non-recurrent allocation that the Minister had made available to support immediate actions as we moved towards recovery. That initial allocation was aimed at securing momentum into 2021-22, with a focus on addressing backlogs in planned care.  Health boards were asked to concentrate on non-recurrent proposals, recognising that this was an initial sum that we hoped to see increased in due course given the scale of the post-COVID recovery challenge.  Health boards were requested to include details of anticipated impacts and associated milestones, as funding would only be approved for proposals that delivered specific outcomes or outputs. All organisations were informed of their allocation and Welsh Government expectations in a letter from the Chief Executive of NHS Wales.

For allocation 2, a similar process took place, with health boards again asked to submit proposals.  In addition to the health board plans, a specific amount of funding was top sliced by Welsh Government for national schemes the Minister wanted to establish.  This included transforming the way outpatients were delivered, a national cancer recovery fund, an ophthalmology recovery fund and supporting patients to keep active whilst they were waiting for procedures.  Again, all organisations were informed of their allocation and Welsh Government expectations in a letter from the Chief Executive of NHS Wales.

2c. Expenditure and forecasts of the Welsh NHS are subject to established monthly monitoring procedures. Expenditure for the 2021/22 financial year will be detailed in the annual reports and accounts of the health boards and trusts. These are due for publication following their audit over the summer.

For delivery, this has been monitored through looking at the levels of activity undertaken in health boards on a monthly basis and comparing that to the levels of activity that were carried out pre-pandemic and during the pandemic, as well as by monitoring the size of waiting lists.

Next steps

If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response.  Requests for an internal review should be addressed to the Welsh Government’s Freedom of Information Officer at:

Information Rights Unit, 
Welsh Government,
Cathays Park, 
Cardiff, 
CF10 3NQ 

or Email: Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales

Please remember to quote the ATISN reference number above.   

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:  Information Commissioner’s Office,

Wycliffe House, 
Water Lane, 
Wilmslow, 
Cheshire, 
SK9 5AF.

However, please note that the Commissioner will not normally investigate a complaint until it has been through our own internal review process.

Yours sincerely