HUNDREDS of patients are waiting longer than a year for NHS treatment in Gwent, new figures show.

From April 2013 until March 2014, 298 patients had been waiting longer than 52 weeks after being diagnosed with a problem.

The longest wait at that time was 97 weeks, for a patient waiting for oral surgery.

But no patients had been waiting for longer than two years at Aneurin Bevan Health Board.

The figures were released after a Freedom of Information request from the Welsh Liberal Democrats to all Welsh health boards.

The Welsh Government’s target is that no patient should wait longer than 36 weeks until the start of their treatment.

Other health boards in Wales also had patients facing lengthy waits. At Abertawe Morgannwg, 545 patients had been waiting longer than a year when the response was sent. At Betsi Cadwaladr the figure was 61 and at Cardiff and Vale it was 423 patients.

However, there were fewer than five patients at Cwm Taf according to the data, 63 at Hywel Dda and 84 at Powys.

In total there were almost 1,400 patients waiting more than a year in Wales.

Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats said: “These figures are nothing short of a national disgrace. It is completely unacceptable that nearly 1,400 people are being forced to wait over a year before being treated.

“Month after month we see the Welsh Government’s 36 week target being missed. However these figures show the problem is even worse than once thought.

“My concern is that the Welsh Labour Government seems entirely clueless on how to turn things around. Waiting lists are piling up and there is little sign of the situation improving.

“This is why we need to establish a Commission to secure a historic and long-term plan for health and social care in Wales. A Commission with cross-party, professional and patient representatives would be able to work together and deal with the strategic problems facing our NHS in Wales. By involving doctors, nurses and patients from the outset, we would ensure that the experiences of those using our front-line health services feed into the efforts to reform our NHS.”

“Whether it is inadequate cancer care, poor ambulance response times or dire A&E waiting times, the Welsh Labour Government is failing to provide the health service that patients in Wales deserve.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said since devolution in 1999, there had been almost a "70 per cent reduction" in the number of patients waiting more than a year from initial referral by their GP to treatment. He added: “More people are being treated in the Welsh NHS today than at any time since its creation. Last year, nearly five million patients were seen by the Welsh NHS in a hospital setting. “We expect all patients to be treated in order of clinical priority, within the set target time. The latest figures show the vast majority of patients - nearly nine out of 10 - are seen within target time.”

A spokeswoman for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said that the health board recognised that during the period April 2013 until March 2014 there were 298 patients waiting over 52 weeks until the start of their treatment.

She said this was due to backlogs in the specialities of orthopaedics and oral surgery, which created longer waiting times than we would have liked for our patients.

The spokeswoman added: “The Health Board has plans to reduce waiting times in these specialties over the next few months to ensure we improve access to services for our patients.”