THE NHS in Wales will get an extra £50 million this year to help cut waiting times.

The money is over and above that which health boards are investing in surgery, diagnostics and therapies this year, and the Welsh Government will expect to see marked reductions in long waits, beyond those achieved in the recent past.

Referrals to hospital-based services in Wales have increased by some 20 per cent, from 1.07m in the year ending March 2013, to 1.27m in the year ending March 2016.

Increases in individual specialities are even higher, with gastroenterology referrals up 37 per cent and orthopaedic referrals up 22 per cent.

Despite increased demand for treatment, in the last two years, referral to treatment and diagnostic waiting times performance has improved.

Waits of more than 36 weeks from referral to treatment more than halved - to 12,354 in the 19 months to March this year, while the number of people waiting more than eight weeks for a diagnostic test has fallen to 4,741, from a high of 28,000.

But no-one should be waiting more than 36 weeks from referral to treatment, and only one health board - Cwm Taf - has eliminated such long waits in the past five years, and that for just a month.

It has not happened in Gwent since 2012, and at the end of June there were 1,314 patients who had been waiting longer than 36 weeks, though this is down two thirds on 18 months ago.

There are also almost 3,400 Gwent patients who have waited more than the target eight weeks for a diagnostic test.