Key Summary
- Welsh Government has announced a £145 million funding uplift for NHS Wales.
- The funding is expected to support increased activity, workforce capacity, and operational improvements.
- A further £20 million will support essential maintenance across the NHS estate, ensuring facilities remain safe, operational, and fit for purpose.
The Welsh Government has announced a £145 million increase in funding for NHS Wales to reduce waiting lists and build longer-term treatment capacity.
The package is part of the Supplementary Budget for 2026–27, due to be published on 23 June 2026, and is intended to improve patient access, modernise infrastructure, and boost activity across health boards.
Around £100 million of the funding is revenue to help reduce waiting times, while approximately £45 million is allocated to capital projects to strengthen healthcare facilities.
Of the capital sum, about £25 million will fund the creation of new surgical and diagnostic hubs - up to ten hubs are planned over the next four years - and roughly £20 million will be used for essential maintenance across the NHS estate to keep buildings safe and operational.
Plaid Cymru Health minister Mabon ap Gwynfor said the funding would help tackle long waits for treatment and speed up diagnoses.
The latest NHS Wales performance figures show the total number of people waiting for treatment rose by just over 13,000 in April to about 680,000, after 10 consecutive months of decline.
First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth emphasised the urgency of addressing waiting times, while also highlighting the need for sustainable improvements:
“We are determined to ensure the NHS works for both patients and staff – and we are acting now. This additional funding sends a clear signal that tackling waiting lists is an urgent and immediate priority for this new Welsh Government.
“But we are not content to just bring down waiting times in the short term – we want to keep them down, so that patients don’t have to wait in pain or discomfort. By investing in new surgical and diagnostic hubs, which will transform specialist treatments, we are putting the infrastructure in place so that our NHS is fit to treat more patients now and into the future.”
To complement the funding, the Welsh Government is holding two system-wide summits aimed at strengthening workforce and primary care resilience.
The Graduate Summit will consider career pathways for newly qualified nurses, midwives and paramedics entering the workforce this summer, while the Primary Care Summit will convene leaders to implement plans to raise health board spending on primary care by 0.5 percent annually from 2027–28.
Together, these measures present immediate operational opportunities and longer-term implementation challenges for NHS managers charged with turning short-term funding into sustained front-line improvements.
