Plaid Cymru makes 28-day cancer diagnosis target pledge

Patients would get a cancer diagnosis within 28 days if Plaid Cymru is in power after the 2016 assembly election, the party has announced.

It has promised to build three cancer diagnostic test centres to "match England" in waiting times and service.

The party estimates the centres would cost about £30m to build.

The Welsh government said it had "invested in new diagnostic equipment, new health centres and NHS staff and we are seeing long waiting times fall".

Plaid's analysis of official statistics suggest just 0.9% of patients in England wait more than six weeks for an MRI scan, compared to 32.3% in Wales.

For a cystoscopy, a specialist bladder examination, the figures are 6.4% and 52.3%.

Elin Jones, Plaid Cymru's health spokeswoman, said: "Waiting lists for diagnostic tests in Wales are substantially longer than elsewhere.

"This means that people who are worried about potential illnesses are waiting too long for diagnosis.

"In England, the government says that it will ensure that patients get cancer diagnoses within 28 days.

"In Wales, a Plaid Cymru government would seek to match England in terms of waiting times and service."

She conceded the Welsh government had invested additional funds in cancer treatment, but said the extra cash "hasn't dented waiting times for tests".

'Committed'

The Welsh government said the latest figures for July showed 97.7% of patients - 765 out of 783 - who were newly-diagnosed with cancer started "definitive" treatment within the target time of 31 days, up from 96.8% of people in June.

A spokesman for Health Minister Mark Drakeford accused Plaid Cymru of "repeating the rhetoric of Jeremy Hunt and the Tories by calling our Welsh NHS 'second rate'" when "every objective comparative study rejects the idea that people in Wales get poorer care".

"We have invested an extra £500m in the last two years alone, which is equivalent to 6.5% - more than any government has put into the NHS," the spokesman said.

"We know there is more that can be done and we are committed to working with our health service to deliver high-quality care and services for all," he added.

Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Darren Millar welcomed "nationalist pledges to copy innovative UK government policy".

"Welsh Conservatives have long called for boosted access to cancer treatments and an end to long waits for hospital appointments," he said.