THE number of patients in Wales who are waiting more than the target eight weeks for a diagnostic test has topped 10,000 - and more than half of them are from Gwent.

The area had 5,438 patients who by the end of September - the latest month for which figures are available - had waited longer than eight weeks.

That is more than twice the amount for any other health board area in Wales.

Significant capacity problems, with increased demand a common factor across different procedures, have combined with a range of other issues to present what Nicola Prygodzicz, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board's director of planning and performance, called "a major challenge."

Those other issues include the end of a programme of extra external capacity in ultrasound and MRI scanning, and in endoscopy reduced consultant numbers and equipment failure at the Royal Gwent Hospital.

The problems in endoscopy have meant rising numbers of patients having to wait more than eight weeks - the figure was close to 2,200 by the end of September - and weekend sessions and a staffed mobile unit with support from health board consultants are options being considered to help tackle the backlog.

A mobile MRI scanner is among the measures being used to address long waits for this procedure, while extra capacity will have to be found somewhere to deal with long waits for ultrasound scans, despite the new staff appointments and the use of locum staff.

An agreed programme with the Welsh Government proposes that the health board reduce the number of patients waiting longer than eight weeks for diagnostic tests to 1,928 by the end of the financial year, before eliminating such during 2017/18.

A reduction to 1,928 by the end of next March remains the health board's aim, but this is likely to prove costly in terms of providing extra resources.