WalesOnline clarifies A&E waiting time figure in report on emergency care delays

WalesOnline has amended its coverage of emergency department pressures after significantly overstating the average time patients spent in A&E in October. An earlier version of the article “The shocking amount of time people have to wait in A&E in Wales” reported that the average wait in emergency departments was 12 hours; the outlet has now acknowledged that this was incorrect.

In reality, the 12-hour figure related to the number of people who endured the longest waits, not to the overall average. Official data from Stats Wales show that more than 10,000 patients waited over 12 hours in major emergency departments in October 2025, a record and roughly one in seven attendees. The average time spent in A&E that month was 2 hours 48 minutes.

The distinction is far from technical. Reporting a 12-hour average implies a system in near-total collapse, with all patients facing half-day waits as a matter of course. The corrected figure still reflects a deeply stretched service – particularly for those in the longest queues – but it changes the scale and distribution of the problem. The pressures in Welsh emergency care are severe without being exaggerated.

The wider piece set out those pressures in detail: more than 10,000 people waiting over 12 hours; around a quarter of patients staying eight hours or more; and just 53.9 per cent admitted, discharged or transferred within the four-hour target. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s vice-president for Wales described the situation as “dismaying”, pointing to overcrowded departments, delayed discharges, and staff “working themselves to the bone” as winter approaches.

Alongside emergency care, the article highlighted serious concerns in cancer pathways. Macmillan Cancer Support’s analysis showed thousands of patients waiting too long to start treatment, with particularly poor performance in some tumour types and persistent inequalities between more and less deprived areas. The picture painted was of a health system under chronic strain, even before the misstatement on A&E averages.

The Welsh Government, for its part, pointed to a £120m investment in the NHS, citing reductions in ambulance handover delays and tens of thousands of additional outpatient appointments as signs of progress. The health secretary acknowledged, however, that “there is more to be done”, particularly in health boards under special measures.

Against that backdrop, numerical accuracy is not cosmetic. In a system where performance data drive political responses, public expectations and clinical morale, the difference between an average wait of nearly three hours and a supposed 12 hours is substantial. The underlying figures already justify scrutiny and concern; inflating them risks undermining trust in both the reporting and the debate it is meant to inform.