Waiting lists are rising in areas targeted by the health minister

And Dave Galligan, of the health service union Unison, voiced his serious concern with some areas of treatment "spiralling out of control."

His particular concern was in the area of the waiting list for trauma and orthopaedic appointments where the list of patients waiting for day case treatment was 20,840 on 30 June 2003.

And 2,573 have been waiting over 12 months for an appointment.

"There are lots of areas where waiting times have improved, and all credit to the work done here," said Mr Galligan, Unison's head of health in Wales.

"But there must be a focussed analysis of the hot spots in order to find the solutions."

Since March admission times for inpatient treatment have gone up.

There have been rises in most of the areas targeted by Welsh Health Minister Jane Hutt, but she said there had been improvements.

The figures show that the number of people waiting for more than six months for a first outpatient appointment also increased, as did the number of orthopaedic patients waiting over 18 months.

Jane Hutt and her government must face up to the reality of the health service crisis in Wales Plaid Cymru's Dai Lloyd

"I am far from complacent about the continuing work needed to keep waiting times heading in the right direction, but increased investment combined with new ways of working is paying off and delivering real change," said Ms Hutt.

Jane Hutt says investment is delivering "real change"

The figures published on Wednesday are the first since a report commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government said the health service in Wales could be overwhelmed with significant change.

'Urgent concern'

Plaid Cymru said the figures showed Labour was "in denial over the crisis in the health service in Wales."

Plaid health spokesman Dr Dai Lloyd said:� Jane Hutt and her government must face up to the reality of the health service crisis in Wales and start addressing the real problems rather than tinkering at the edges."

The number of patients waiting more than 12 months for admission to hospital as an inpatient or day case rose by 727 (6.1%) to 12,558 since the end of March.

Tonsillectomies are not in the figures due to equipment problems

The number waiting more than 18 months rose by 516 (9.9%) to 5,754.

The figures are lower if tonsillectomies are excluded. The Welsh Assembly government does not include such operations because of problems with surgical equipment.

Since the end of March the number waiting more than six months for a first outpatient appointment has risen by 543 (0.8%) to 70,663.

Ms Hutt said: "Last month no patient in Wales waited more than 12 months for cardiac surgery, and there were only seven patients waiting over this year's target of 10 months," she said.