As far as this publication is concerned, the state of our Welsh National Health Service is the key issue in next month’s Senedd election. And come May 9 when the dust is mostly settled and the new Government is over its victory hangover and sitting down to make this nation stronger, fixing the NHS is top of the to do list.

We say this, not only because of long waiting lists, overworked staff, shortages of specialists and facilities that, in cases of reinforced aerated concrete, are literally falling down around patients - but also because of a damning report from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) that says on average each week, 18 of us die needlessly waiting for treatment. Across 2025, RCEM reports nearly 1,000 excess deaths in our under-resourced and overworked A&E Departments.

RCEM said that “the scale of deaths linked to long A&E waits last year should send shockwaves through the entire political system in Wales” and said that “whoever forms the next Welsh Government must commit to ending the link between long waits and deaths by 2030.”

RCEM’s State of Emergency Medicine in Wales report revealed that an estimated 965 deaths in Wales in 2025 were associated with waits of 12 or more hours at Emergency Departments before admission into a hospital bed.

That’s an average of 18 people per week dying due to long waits in A&E.

The new analysis shows an increase of 29 deaths compared to 2024 and outlines how the long waits, high bed occupancy and deaths associated with them can be curbed. In effect, responsibility for those 29 deaths can be laid directly at the feet of the Government at Cardiff Bay. No one else.

Make no mistake: The challenge facing the new Welsh Government is huge. The report says that “overcrowding and long waits remained significant issues for Welsh emergency departments in 2025” and added “there is little sign of improvement.”

Figures show that 122,166 people waited 12 hours or longer in A&Es in Wales in 2025.

Let’s not forget that more patients are forced to go to A&E because the wider NHS system of GP services is broken.