Charities have called on the Scottish Government to take action after figures revealed a key cancer waiting time target has not been met for more than three years.

The target, which aims for 95 per cent of cancer patients urgently referred to be seen within 62 days, has not been met since 2012.

In the first three months of this year, 90.2 per cent of patients in Scotland started treatment within the timeframe - down 0.6 per cent compared to the last quarter.

Meanwhile, another target, which sets out that 95% of patients should wait no more than 31 days from being told they will be treated to receiving their first bout of treatment, was also narrowly missed, with 94.9 per cent of cases meeting the timeframe.

Elspeth Atkinson, director of Macmillan Cancer Support in Scotland, said: "We are extremely disappointed that both cancer waiting-times targets have now been missed. It has been over three years since the 62-day target was hit.

"Every additional day waiting for tests or results is another day of stress for people with cancer and their families, and long delays can also impact on survival rates.

"The Scottish Government must identify why these targets are being repeatedly missed and work with health boards to take urgent action to rectify this."

Emlyn Samuel, Cancer Research UK's senior policy manager, added: "It is unacceptable that time and time again these targets aren't met.

"Cancer is still Scotland's most common cause of death. To give patients the best chance of survival, it is vital they are diagnosed and treated swiftly.

"This should be a priority in Scotland's new cancer strategy as we need to see fast progress to address poor waiting times."

The 62-day target was met by just three NHS boards - Borders, Dumfries and Galloway and Lanarkshire.

While the 31-day standard was met by 11 boards, with Grampian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian and Tayside missing the mark.

Scottish Labour said the figures show that the government is failing to deal with Scotland's biggest killer.

Party health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: "The SNP have failed to meet the 62 day standard for 3 years now. Every missed statistic is a patient with an anxious family.

"The SNP response to not meeting their targets is to review those targets. I have repeatedly asked the SNP government to confirm that cancer waiting times will be exempt from their review; this is not as time to water down standards patients should expect."

The Scottish Government said the implementation of its £100 million cancer strategy will drive improvements in access to cancer care.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said the strategy - launched in March and being implemented this year - will invest in the prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare for cancer patients and improve treatment waiting times.

She pointed out the median wait from a doctor's decision to treat to a patient beginning treatment is six days.

Ms Robison said: "It is vital that we treat cancer as quickly as possible and that's why we have set rigorous standards in this area.

"Under this government, cancer waiting times have improved dramatically and overall cancer death rates have dropped by 11% in the last 10 years.

"The figures published today also show that once a decision has been made for a patient to receive treatment, the median wait for this is less than a week.

"However, further improvements need to be made to ensure that everybody in Scotland - no matter where they live or what type of cancer they have - are able to get timely access to cancer diagnostics and treatment."