Lack of elective surgery in Cardiff hospitals put patients at risk

The Royal College of Surgeons has called for urgent action on a “serious patient safety issue” at Wales’s largest hospital, after reporting that a high number of patients have died on waiting lists for elective cardiac surgery.

Waiting lists for elective cardiac surgery at the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board were “higher than clinically appropriate” and could be causing high death rates, the college warned. It called on Health Inspectorate Wales to investigate the problems as a matter of urgency.

The warning came after the college produced a report following a visit to the University Hospital of Wales in April, warning that patients’ access to elective surgery was being hampered by demand for …