Dr Gibbons said the new challenge for the NHS was 'patient experience'

Brian Gibbons said he wanted to see the NHS driven by the desire to improve people's experience of treatment.

His comments come after auditor general for Wales, Sir John Bourn, said NHS waiting times must be driven down but there was no clear strategy to do so.

Opposition parties have called on Welsh Labour to change its health policies.

The auditor general for Wales' report is published in the same week that Jane Hutt was sacked after five-and-a-half years as the Welsh assembly's first health minister.

It shows that it's not just good enough for Rhodri Morgan to move his health minister Kirsty Williams AM

The report's recommendations will be considered by the assembly's audit committee.

Dr Gibbons, who replaced Jane Hutt, has said he was not considering changing Labour's policy on waiting times.

The failure to reduce waiting times in Wales had been a repeated criticism of Ms Hutt towards the end of her tenure as health minister.

But Dr Gibbons said: "If you look at what Sir John has said, he said reform was needed in the NHS in Wales. We have delivered reform.

Jane Hutt had been criticised for her policies on waiting times

"He has also pointed out that we are making progress, particularly in long waits.

"I think the challenge now is to move on to a new phase, and that new phase will be to improve the patient experience.

'Most damning report'

"That means, quicker treatment, better quality treatment, treatment more convenient to patients."

Opposition parties in the assembly said the report must mean a change of policy as well as minister.

Conservative Jonathan Morgan AM said: "Waiting lists mean a great deal to people, particularly to the 311,000 people who are now waiting for treatment in Wales.

"I believe that this report above all others has been the most damning report and that had Rhodri Morgan not sacked Jane Hutt on Monday, then he would certainly have sacked her today."

Liberal Democrat AM Kirsty Williams said: "I think today's report is a devastating condemnation of how Welsh Labour has run the NHS and it shows that it's not just good enough for Rhodri Morgan to move his health minister.

'Some success'

"We also need a radical change in policy.

Plaid Cymru AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas said: "There's no strategy in terms of addressing this issue from the government of Wales, there's no management of the situation and they are financially incompetent."

The report describes a Welsh health service where waiting time targets are higher than those in England and Scotland, but it concludes that it is a service that had generally failed to meet them.

Although there has been some success in reducing the longest waits, the report finds that success still depends on where patients live in Wales.