The Welsh government has confirmed £145m in additional NHS spending for the current financial year, with the bulk of the funding directed at reducing a treatment backlog that stood at around 680,000 patients in April.

Of the total, £100m has been allocated to cutting waiting times, with £25m of that earmarked for new surgical and diagnostic hubs. The government plans to develop up to ten such facilities over the next four years. A further £20m in capital funding will go towards maintaining the NHS estate, covering equipment upgrades and mobile scanners where existing stock has aged or become inadequate.

The announcement comes as the latest NHS Wales performance data showed the total number of patients waiting for treatment rose by approximately 13,000 in April, reaching roughly 680,000. That increase ended ten consecutive months of decline. Two-year waits also moved in the wrong direction, rising from around 2,600 in March to nearly 3,700 in April. Emergency department performance against both four-hour and twelve-hour targets deteriorated further in May.

Health minister Mabon ap Gwynfor, who holds the portfolio under the new Plaid Cymru-led administration, said the investment was intended to address underlying capacity problems rather than produce short-term reductions that prove temporary. Speaking publicly, he was critical of the approach taken by the previous Welsh Labour government, which he said had focused on immediate fixes without addressing the structural issues driving long waits. He said the new funding would support earlier intervention, improved diagnostic pathways and the proper validation of waiting lists so patients are directed to appropriate treatment rather than placed on incorrect lists.

Ap Gwynfor also called on chiefs at Betsi Cadwaladr health board to act immediately following an inspection that raised serious concerns about the emergency department at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Denbighshire. The inspection identified problems with leadership, governance, culture and overcrowding. The minister said he was disappointed by the findings and that government officials were monitoring the situation regularly, while insisting the unit remained safe for patients to attend.

The political response to the announcement was sceptical. Welsh Labour interim leader Ken Skates pointed to the ten-month period of falling waiting lists under the previous administration as evidence that Labour's investment had produced results, and questioned whether Plaid Cymru had a credible plan to sustain progress. Reform Wales shadow health minister James Evans said the April figures should prompt a reckoning for the new government, citing rising two-year waits, weaker cancer treatment performance and persistent problems with ambulance response times. Evans argued that Plaid Cymru could not continue to attribute current difficulties to its predecessor having won power earlier this year.

A separate issue raised by ap Gwynfor concerns the supply of newly qualified NHS staff. He acknowledged that he cannot guarantee employment for recently trained paramedics, nurses and midwives in Wales, after a recruitment freeze left a cohort of graduates without positions. The freeze was attributed to decisions made under the previous administration. The minister was speaking ahead of an NHS graduate summit in Cardiff, where health officials and employers were expected to discuss how to absorb available staff and prevent a similar situation occurring in future. A formal NHS workforce plan for Wales is expected to be published in the autumn.

The £145m commitment forms part of the Welsh government's supplementary budget for 2026-27. Nearly half of the Welsh government's total budget of £27bn for this financial year is directed at health and social care, with Plaid Cymru having inherited the spending plans set by Welsh Labour before the change of administration.