FEWER cancer patients in Gwent are waiting longer than they should to begin their treatments, new figures have shown.

In March, all 153 patients whose cancer was not diagnosed through a suspected cancer pathway, but through treatment or tests for another problem, began their target inside the standard 31 days. The target is for a minimum 98 per cent of patients to do so.

Although the target for patients whose disease was picked up through a suspected cancer pathway - that a minimum 95 per cent of them should start treatment inside 62 days - was not met, the 92 per cent rate for March was the best for a year.

Declining performance against cancer treatment targets has not been an issue confined to Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, though problems with diagnostic testing capacity has made the challenge of reversing the trend in Gwent a considerable one.

A health board report describes improvements as a “slow process”, particularly as the urgent need to deal with treatment backlogs had to be addressed.

It highlights reductions in delays for outpatients, particularly for diagnostic tests, and for treatment at specialist centres as factors in the improvements.

Another problem that needs to be overcome is that of lengthening waits for test results.

To help quicker reporting, extra reporting capacity has been brought in to speed up the reporting of scan results for patients on the urgent suspected cancer pathway.

Measures are also being considered to revamp the booking process, to ensure cancer patients are prioritised appropriately, and that an escalation process is available if needed.

The health board hopes too, that work to clear a backlog of endoscopies will also help the battle to begin cancer patients’ treatment within target times.

The health board was one of two in Wales to achieve a 100 per cent score against the 31-day treatment target in March.

Ninety-two per cent of patients on the 62-day target began treatment within that timescale, the best performance in Gwent since March last year.