Jane Hutt reveals new targets

Some patients in Wales are currently having to wait up to six years between being referred by their doctor to hospital and having an operation.

Condemning the long waiting times for surgery as "completely unacceptable", Ms Hutt said she was determined to eliminate waits of over 18 months for treatment by July next year.

"It's often primary care which deals with the pressures of patients who have to wait a long time for treatment," she said.

"I fully expect this funding to help tackle underlying causes of long waits to ensure that once eliminated this problem does not arise again.

We hope that this will initiate a future coherent manpower strategy that would tackle many of the root causes of the ills of the NHS in Wales

BMA secretary, Bob Broughton

"This is good news for the NHS, good news for patients and demonstrates how the assembly with its partners can co-operate to tackle difficult problems."

Half of the money will come from health authorities, another �5m from within the overall health budget and �1m from the Innovations in Care programme

Ms Hutt also said that a further announcement towards modernising orthopaedic services will be made soon.

The move has been welcomed by members of the British Medical Association (BMA) as a step in the right direction.

BMA Welsh Secretary Dr Bob Broughton said: "We very much applaud this initiative - especially the promise that some of the money will be used to start a process of continuous improvement in the service.

'Previously announced'

"We hope that this will initiate a future coherent manpower strategy that would tackle many of the root causes of the ills of the NHS in Wales, namely inadequate trained doctors, inadequate support services, inadequate beds and inadequate fully trained nursing staff."

But Dr Dai Lloyd, Plaid Cymru's Shadow Health and Social Services Minister in the assembly, was not impressed.

He said the money had previously been announced in the assembly budget.

And, he added: "Before the patients benefit from this initiative there will be a mountain of bureaucracy to climb as the money has to be funneled through the health authorities, the various health trusts and then to hospitals.

"What is lacking is any sense of priority as to where the money will be spent. There is no commitment to designating special areas for orthopaedic treatment or recruit specialized staff numbers from the Health Minister.

"This is not an acceptable way to engage with the problems of the NHS. Something more substantial has to be done and patients will be judging by results."