The UHB is committed to ensuring that patients are treated in the right place, at the right time, by the right clinician.
This doesn’t always mean that seeing a consultant in a big specialist hospital, such as the University Hospital of Wales, is always the answer.
For example, if you have back pain, conservative treatment, such as physiotherapy, may be more appropriate than invasive treatment, such as surgery.
This type of treatment will usually be provided more locally, for example in a GP practice or a community hospital.
Health Board staff will work with you to ensure you receive the best possible care, and to ensure your treatment provides you with the best possible outcome. However, you too can play a part in this. Taking regular exercise, eating healthily and not smoking will all contribute to your well-being.
Take a look at the Promoting Health section of our website for further information and advice about looking after yourself.
Where you are referred to a consultant, your treatment will normally start no more than 26 weeks after the referral. This isn’t always possible – there may be good clinical reasons for taking longer, such as monitoring your condition or doing investigations, so that when your treatment does start, it will be as successful as possible. In the vast majority of cases, patients should wait no more than 36 weeks.
If you are a member of the armed forces (including the Territorial Army), you and the members of your family are also entitled to this guarantee. If you are referred to us, any period for which you have waited for the same treatment at another UK hospital will be taken into account. Please make us aware of these details as soon as possible so we can plan your treatment accordingly.
The 26 to 36 weeks targets above apply nationally, so it’s essential that they are measured in the same way across Wales. The Welsh Government (WG) has set down a series of rules that the UHB has to follow to do this.
In broad terms, this means that the period you as a patient have been waiting is the period that you have been ready and able to receive treatment. For example, if you had agreed to have treatment but then booked a four week holiday, you would be regarded as having waited four weeks less in relation to the target.
As a patient, you have a key role to play in helping the UHB use its resources as effectively as possible, and ensure waiting times are as short as possible.
Please remember