WALES’S largest health board undercounted patient waiting lists by thousands over a five-month period, corrected figures revealed today.

Health Secretary Jeremy Miles said Betsi Cadwaladr health board was “on the right path” after an investigation confirmed data management issues but ruled out patient treatment problems.

He said procedures and processes had “been tightened,”  and after receiving the updated data from Betsi the revised waiting figures for Wales shows a drop.

“Today’s figures show we are on the right path to reduce the longest waits and cut the size of the waiting list.

“The number of people waiting more than a year for their first outpatient appointment fell by 10,400 in October compared to September.”

Mr Miles said the provisional data for November suggests there are significant reductions in waiting times.

“A record number of patient pathways — almost 139,000 — were closed in October, which shows the scale of planned care activity across Wales.”