THE NHS in Scotland and England performs better than the service in Wales on waiting times for elective care, against more stringent targets, a Wales Audit Office (WAO) report concludes.

The report - NHS Waiting Times for Elective Care in Wales - published today, also finds the Welsh service's current approach "does not deliver sustainably low waiting times" though "emerging plans have potential to improve the position if they are implemented effectively."

And a survey of patients as part of the WAO's work on the report found a "significant minority" felt they waited too long.

The report, which looks set to re-ignite and already heated debate about the relative merits of the NHS in Wales compared to that in England, contains nine recommendations to try to cut waiting times.

Foremost is a call for a fundamental review of current waiting times targets and their effectiveness. A radical re-shaping of the outpatients system is also proposed, to make it more based on need, patients' treatment preferences, use of technology, and to reduce "the risk of over-treatment and an over-reliance on hospital-based consultants to diagnose and advise on treatment."

Around one-in-seven (13.65 per cent) patients on waiting lists in Wales had waited longer than the target 26 weeks from referral to treatment, according to the latest figures for November 2014.

None should wait longer than 36 weeks, but the November figure was 19,679, or 4.65 per cent of patients on a waiting list in Wales.

Assembly public accounts committee chairman Darren Millar AM called the report a "wake-up call" to the Welsh Government and the NHS in Wales.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “The report shows nine out of 10 patients are waiting less than 26 weeks and the median wait is just under 10 weeks.

“We expect health boards to continue to improve performance against referral to treatment times targets. This will be outlined in their integrated medium term plans, which will be submitted at the end of this month.”