An extra £28 million is to be invested to cut long NHS waiting times in Wales.

Jeremy Miles, cabinet secretary for health and social care, said the new funding will help health boards reduce the longest waits.

Mr Miles said: "We have made tackling long waiting times our priority and today I'm announcing an extra £28million to help health boards cut the longest waits.

"This new funding will pay for more evening and weekend appointments, high volume clinics and regional working to target the longest waits in specialties such as orthopaedics, ophthalmology, general surgery and gynaecology."

He added that the interventions will have a "significant impact" on those waiting for treatment, tests and outpatient appointments.

He also noted that record levels of demand are present across the sector.

Despite this, Mr Miles said that the latest figures for August and September show some progress in diagnostics and therapies, along with an increase in performance against the 62-day cancer target which has now reached 56.5 percent.

He said: "Urgent and emergency care services continue to be under great pressure, with the second highest daily numbers of 'red' (immediately life threatening) calls reported on record and sustained pressure at emergency departments.

"However, the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust responded to the second highest number of people in the red category in eight minutes on record."

Mr Miles also pointed out that, although activity at emergency care facilities remains close to record levels, admissions to hospital were more than five per cent lower than at the same time last year.

This suggests that plans to support more people avoiding a stay in hospital are having an impact.

However, he recognised that more work needs to be done to support people with urgent care needs in the community and to improve the timeliness of discharge home.