THE NHS in Wales has been “tipped over the edge” in terms of its ability to cope with demand, the director of the Welsh NHS Confederation said.

Over the Christmas week, ambulance staff spent the equivalent of just over 311 days waiting outside hospitals to admit patients across Wales, while the number of ‘red’ calls – the most urgent, immediately life-threatening cases – rose 62 per cent compared to the same period in 2021, despite the total number of calls staying at around the same level.

This adds to a backdrop of discontent, with RCN nurses striking for the first time in history across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and ambulance staff also taking industrial action.

Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, has called for an end to the “political blame game” between the Welsh and UK governments to allow for the health service to recover in the long-term.

“What we’re seeing is the NHS was right on a knife-edge in terms in terms of its ability to cope,” he told BBC Radio Wales.

“That’s the pressure on staff within hospitals but also within communities and other healthcare settings.”

Mr Hughes said a staffing crisis in social care meant that “about one in nine hospital beds” was being filled by a patient who is ready to be discharged into the community, freeing up the bed for another patient - but could not be due to a lack of placements elsewhere.

“We've got an NHS which was on a knife edge struggling to cope and has literally just been tipped over the edge over the Christmas period,” he said.

“It’s really harming staff who aren't able to provide care to patients at the level that they would want to.

“What we need now from politicians is to commit to a long term plan to put these things right.

“The NHS has been under pressure and underfunded for a significant period of time. We've got a political blame game happening between Cardiff and Westminster.

“We need a long term funding commitment so we could develop the workforce. We hear talk about beds, it’s about much more than beds. This is about having the staff that we need to look after the people of Wales and the rest of the UK, which we simply don't have at the moment.

“You can't train people in weeks or months, this takes years. We need clarity now to train the nursing workforce that we need.

“We've heard how unhappy nurses are – they’re going on strike for the first time. We’ve got the knock on effect of the industrial action. We need the government to admit how serious the situation is for the NHS in every part of the UK and to work together so that we can have an NHS that the people of the United Kingdom and Wales in particular deserve.

“One of the biggest challenges at the moment is patient flow. I think we saw just before Christmas there around 170 ambulances on the road at any one time in the Welsh NHS. Over half of them were stuck outside hospitals.

“Hospitals are unable to discharge patients into social care settings. Social care settings and investment in the future of social care is the quickest fix, but none of this can be done overnight.

“We’re facing the toughest times we've seen. It was on a knife edge and yet again it's been tipped over the edge.”