ONE of two key waiting time targets for beginning cancer treatments was met in Gwent for the first time in six months in October.

But health board performance against a second such target fell to its lowest level in close to two years.

A minimum 98 per cent of patients whose cancer, when diagnosed, has not been previously suspected - for instance, it has been found during tests or treatment for another problem - should begin their subsequent treatment within 31 days.

In Gwent in October, the latest month for which figures have been published, the rate was 98.2 per cent, the best in the area since April (98.4 per cent).

In terms of patient numbers, it meant that all but three of 169 in this category that month began their treatment within the target time.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board will hope that the improvement heralds a more consistent meeting of the target.

The other waiting time target is that a minimum 95 per cent of patients whose disease is diagnosed following a referral due to suspected cancer should begin treatment inside 62 days.

This target has in recent times proved far more difficult to meet, not only in Gwent, but across Wales.

The all-Wales average in October was just 85.7 per cent, but in Gwent it was 82.3 per cent, the lowest since January 2015.

That meant that 17 patients out of the 96 in Gwent in the 62-day category that month, waited longer to start their treatment.

Diagnostic testing capacity is a growing problem for the NHS in Wales in terms of meeting waiting times targets, and is an issue that includes, but also goes beyond, cancer diagnoses.

In Gwent, problems with equipment at the Royal Gwent Hospital have compounded difficulties caused due to a lack of staff in key areas.

Last summer, a Cancer Research UK report raised concerns with diagnostic testing capacity in Wales and urged the Welsh Government to speed up the introduction of a single pathway to record waiting times from the point of suspicion of cancer.

It also called for more measures of performance, including the proportion of patients: Seen by a consultant within 14 days of referral; receiving a definitive diagnosis within 28 days of suspicion of cancer, and; starting treatment within 14 days of a decision to treat.

As yet however, there has been no indication of changes to cancer pathways, and when they might be implemented.