Currently 164,000 procedures have waiting lists of more than 12 months.
The plan also sets a target of about a third of new appointments and half of follow-up appointments to take place virtually in future, freeing up clinicians' time.Media caption,Cathrin Lloyd-Williams, from Menai Bridge, in Gwynedd, has just turned 85 and said she had waited about three years for a new hip, but then her specialist retired.
"When you wake up every morning in dire pain and have no hope for the future then it's really difficult for people to live with," she said. "Reducing waiting times will require new solutions, more equipment, new facilities and more staff to help diagnose people quickly as part of an effective and efficient planned care service," said Mrs Morgan.The plans will also see diagnostic testing done away from traditional hospital settings, in primary and community care settings.
Clinical director for planned care at Hywel Dda health board Ken Harris said building work on two new specialist day-surgery facilities is due to finish in the next few weeks.Ken Harris said the health service needs to change the way it works to tackle the backlog "We're looking at extended days, six or seven-day working so we can maximise the efficiency - but obviously how we can achieve that is largely dependent on how we can recruit and retain staff.Welsh Conservative MS Russel Georgie, the shadow health minister, said: "Labour's mismanagement of our NHS predates the COVID-19 with waiting times doubling in the year before the pandemic.
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