Some patients have to wait eight weeks for radiotherapy

However, Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth, is highlighted as an example of excellence for the telemedicine links it has established with the cancer centre in Swansea.

The document examines how far cancer services have improved since a watershed report published six years ago recommended improvements in the diagnosis, treatment and funding of cancer medicine.

The 1995 Calman-Hine report is seen as a baseline against which the success of the UK NHS Cancer Plan can be measured and in Wales, the cancer strategy of the Welsh Assembly.

Members of the Commission for Health Improvement and the Audit Commission will appear before the assembly's health committee on 9 January.

In October, cancer services came once again under the microscope with the case of mid Wales farmer Powell Jones who was still awaiting surgery for skin cancer 15 months after being diagnosed.

While the majority of patients categorised as urgent are seen very quickly, half of all cancer patients, whose cases are described as non-urgent can wait much longer.

Farmer Powell Jones waited 15 months for treatment

There are also delays caused by lack of equipment or by hospitals not using their equipment to its full potential.

Some hospitals scan more patients with one MRI machine that others do with three or four, the report found.

And poor communication between doctors and consultants is also criticised, as is the lack of access to hospice care in some areas.

While 90% of hospitals have now introduced the team approach known to lead to the best results in treating breast cancers, progress has been slower in other areas.

Professional standards

Only half the hospitals have multi-disciplinary teams to treat urological(urine systems) cancers.

Waiting times vary widely across the country - in some areas patients have to wait up to eight weeks for radiotherapy for curable skin cancers, whereas professional standards say treatment should be given within eight weeks

One of the major recommendations of the Calman-Hine report was that three cancer centres should be opened in Wales.

That ambition was boosted two years ago with the launch of a �20m cancer centre at Glan Clwyd Hospital near Rhyl in north Wales.

Cancer services are also run at Singleton Hospital in Swansea and at Velindre Hospital near Cardiff.