Health board admits standards are difficult to meet as doctors warn of “extremely dangerous” shortages

PATIENTS in west Wales are facing worsening delays to cancer diagnosis and treatment as severe staff shortages leave hospitals struggling to meet expected standards of care.

A major new report from the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has warned that workforce shortages are now so serious that patients’ conditions are deteriorating while waiting for diagnosis and treatment.

The findings paint a bleak picture for Wales — particularly rural areas — with shortages of specialist cancer and radiology doctors among the worst in the UK.

Now, Hywel Dda University Health Board, which covers Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, has admitted it is struggling to recruit staff and warned that standards of care are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

Staff shortages ‘impacting care’

Responding to questions from The Herald, Hywel Dda said recruiting radiology and oncology clinicians “continues to be a challenge” across west Wales.

James Severs, Executive Director of Allied Health Professions and Health Science at the health board, admitted that staffing shortages are affecting services.

He said: “We are concerned that standards of care, and expected turnaround times are difficult to achieve, including within cancer diagnosis and other emergency conditions, while we have shortages in staff and equipment.”

The health board also confirmed that rising demand for scans, driven by increasing patient numbers and new care pathways, has not been matched by workforce growth.

As a result, Hywel Dda says it has increasingly relied on temporary doctors and external providers to interpret scans.

The admission comes as the Royal College of Radiologists warns Wales is facing an escalating crisis in diagnostic and cancer services.

Conditions worsening while patients wait

For the first time, every radiology department leader in Wales told the RCR they were aware of patients whose conditions had worsened because of staff shortages and delays to diagnosis.

The report found NHS Wales currently has 88 fewer consultant radiologists than needed — a shortfall of 28 per cent — and 13 fewer consultant clinical oncologists, representing a 17 per cent shortage.

Without urgent intervention, the situation is expected to worsen dramatically by 2030.

The crisis is especially acute in north and west Wales, where the radiologist shortage stands at 42 per cent — almost double that of south Wales.

The RCR warned this risks creating a “postcode lottery” in access to life-saving diagnosis and cancer care.

Waiting lists growing

The scale of delays is already stark.

In December 2025, nearly 47,000 people in Wales had waited more than eight weeks for a diagnostic scan or test.

During 2025, almost 10,000 patients waited more than 62 days to begin treatment for suspected cancer — far below the Welsh Government’s own targets.

Doctors warn that delays in diagnosis can have devastating consequences, particularly for cancer patients, where survival rates can worsen significantly with every month treatment is delayed.

One cancer service leader quoted anonymously in the report said: “Delays in patients starting both chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment” were directly linked to workforce shortages.

Another warned: “Workforce shortages in diagnostics especially radiology and pathology are critical and lengthening pathways which is leading to patient harm.”

‘Alarm bells should be ringing’

Dr Stephen Harden, President of the Royal College of Radiologists, said governments could no longer ignore the warning signs.

“For the first time, our census shows that patients’ conditions are deteriorating because of workforce shortages,” he said.

“Delays to diagnosis and cancer treatment are extremely dangerous, particularly in deprived and rural communities where shortages are worst.

“Alarm bells should be ringing. Without urgent action to train, recruit and retain more doctors, more patients will suffer.”

Millions spent on sticking plasters

Despite chronic shortages, the RCR said recruitment freezes in Welsh radiology departments have almost doubled in a year — rising from 33 per cent in 2024 to 57 per cent in 2025.

At the same time, NHS Wales spent £13.5 million last year on temporary fixes including locum doctors, overtime and outsourcing scans to private firms — enough to pay the salaries of 113 consultant radiologists.

Critics say the system is becoming trapped in an expensive cycle of firefighting rather than solving the root problem.

Hywel Dda said radiology was identified as one of nine services needing reform under its Clinical Services Plan and pointed to ongoing recruitment and training efforts.

The Welsh Government has been approached for comment.

RCN Wales says patients are being left in chairs and hospital corridors for hours as England begins releasing national figures

WALES is being urged to begin publishing hospital corridor care data after England released its first national figures exposing the scale of patients being treated in inappropriate spaces.

RCN Wales said the Welsh Government cannot properly tackle unsafe care if it is not routinely measured or publicly reported.

The call follows the publication of corridor care data by NHS England, which RCN Wales said provides a clearer picture of the scale of the issue in English hospitals for the first time.

The union is calling for the Welsh Government to publish monthly corridor care data by health board, agree a national data set, and release the first figures as soon as possible.

‘Unsafe and unacceptable’

Nicola Williams, Executive Director of RCN Wales, said: “Today’s publication of corridor care data in England demonstrates why transparency matters. We cannot tackle a problem we do not fully understand and are not measuring.

“Corridor care is unsafe, undignified and unacceptable. Nurses across Wales have repeatedly raised concerns about patients being treated in inappropriate spaces because of pressures on the health and care system.”

Ms Williams said she had recently visited a number of hospitals in Wales where she saw patients in chairs, on trolleys in corridors, and squeezed into overcrowded areas not designed for patient care.

She said some patients had been there for well over 12 hours.

She added: “There was one consistent feature which was the look of fear in patients’ eyes as they watched the continual movement and activity going on loudly in very close proximity to them.

“These patients were mainly in gowns with no privacy, no dignity, no space and no confidentiality.”

‘Now normalised’

RCN Wales said nurses had reported that corridor care had become normalised in some hospital settings.

Ms Williams said staff were going home after shifts knowing they had not been able to give patients the care they deserved.

She said: “Nurses told me this is now normalised, happens every day and staff cannot care adequately for patients, which is causing harm and distress to patients, and significantly affecting nurses’ morale.”

In the Senedd on Tuesday (June 2), Health and Care Cabinet Secretary Mabon ap Gwynfor described corridor care as an unsafe practice and said tackling it was a priority.

RCN Wales said it welcomed that recognition but said the next step must be proper measurement and public reporting.

Ms Williams said: “Without consistent national and organisation-wide data, it is impossible to establish the true scale of the problem, identify trends, target resources effectively or measure progress over time.”

Call for national reviews

RCN Wales is also calling for the publication of two national reviews into healthcare capacity, alongside policy recommendations for action.

The union said understanding the relationship between capacity pressures and corridor care would be essential if the practice was to be eliminated.

Ms Williams added: “This is not about collecting statistics for their own sake. It is about establishing a baseline against which improvement can be measured and ensuring accountability for delivering safer care for patients.

“Nursing staff have been warning about the dangers of corridor care for years. Patients deserve care delivered in safe and appropriate clinical environments, and staff deserve the resources and capacity needed to provide it.

“The publication of data in England is an important step. Wales must now follow suit and ensure we have the evidence needed to eradicate corridor care for good.”

Ministers say unsuitable homes are worsening health and contributing to delayed hospital discharges across Wales

POOR or unsuitable housing is directly affecting people’s health and placing additional strain on NHS services in Wales, the Welsh Government has admitted, following the publication of a major new report warning of the growing health impacts of inadequate homes.

The warning comes in a new report by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT), which argues that poor housing is worsening physical and mental health, increasing hospital readmissions and adding avoidable pressure to health and social care services.

The report says millions of people across the UK are living in homes that fail to meet their needs, with problems ranging from damp and poor accessibility to unsuitable living environments for older people and those with disabilities or long-term health conditions.

The Welsh Government acknowledged the issue when asked for comment by The Pembrokeshire Herald.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Poor or unsuitable housing directly impacts people’s health and places additional pressure on NHS services.

“Delayed discharges linked to unsuitable housing are a serious concern and we are taking steps to improve patient flow and reduce delays, strengthening joint working between health, social care and housing services so people can leave hospital safely.

“This Welsh Government has been clear that housing is a public health issue, which is why we are aligning action across government, including through dedicated ministerial oversight, to create a healthier population.

“We are also strengthening adaptation services to support independent living and prevent avoidable admissions and are establishing a new national development body to speed up delivery of accessible social homes.”

The RCOT report argues there is little point discharging patients from hospital if they are returning to homes that worsen their condition or fail to meet their needs. It also highlights growing concerns around delayed hospital discharges, accessibility and an ageing population.

In west Wales, Hywel Dda University Health Board said housing and wider living conditions have a significant effect on health outcomes.

James Severs, Executive Director of Allied Health Professions and Health Science at Hywel Dda University Health Board, said: “Most of what determines our health and well-being sits beyond the NHS. While healthcare is vital, it is the conditions in which people live, learn, work and age that have the greatest impact on health outcomes. As a Health Board, we recognise that the NHS contributes only a proportion of overall population health, with wider factors such as housing, education, employment and the environment playing a much larger role.

“This is why our strategy for ‘A Healthier Mid and West Wales’ is focused on moving beyond an illness-centred model of care to one that prioritises prevention, early intervention and support in communities. We are committed to working in partnership with local authorities, the third sector and our communities to address these wider determinants of health, reduce inequalities and enable people to live healthier lives, well lived.”

The report states that almost half of adults in Wales are already living with long-term health conditions and warns that failing to address poor housing could place increasing pressure on already stretched services.

The Pembrokeshire Herald has approached Pembrokeshire County Council for comment.