Nine of Scotland's health boards have failed to meet a key cancer treatment time despite a support team set up to improve results.

Across Scotland 92.9% of patients urgently referred with a suspicion of cancer between April and June started treatment within 62 days.

The figure is an improvement on the previous three-month period (91.5%) but fails to meet the Scottish Government's 95% standard.

NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Shetland, NHS Tayside, NHS Western Isles, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Fife, NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde all missed the target.

A second national standard for patients assessed as needing cancer treatment starting this within 31 days was met, with 96.3% of people treated in that timescale across Scotland.

NHS Grampian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde were the only health boards that failed to meet the target.

A support team has been in place since March to help health boards who are missing cancer waiting times improve their performance.

Health Secretary Alex Neil insisted that the team was having a positive impact and that patient waiting times were "moving in the right direction".

He said: "Since March this team have been closely monitoring health boards' performance and immediately acting where problems are identified.

"They have visited health boards and supported them to make the changes needed to reduce waiting times, as well as facilitating a sharing of best practice among the country's health boards.

"This decisive action, coupled with a £2.5 million investment in June to build diagnostic and treatment capacity, is now starting to show real improvements in waiting times.

"However, there is clearly still more work to be done and with an increasing number of people being diagnosed with cancer putting pressure on our services, we will continue to support boards to help make further improvements."

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Jim Hume accused the SNP administration of "letting their priorities slide" and raised concerns about the disparity in treatment times for different cancer types.

He said: "It remains that the target has not been met since December 2012.

"In some health boards, as few as 90% of patients are given their first treatment within 62 days of referral with suspicion of cancer. Every minute of every day matters to cancer sufferers and their families.

"The Health Secretary must provide assurances that any efforts from his government to reduce waiting times are adequately resourced to support health boards across Scotland."

"NHS boards have failed to meet waiting time standards for eight out of 10 cancer types.

"We need to get a fuller understanding of why 97.8% of patients referred with suspicion of breast cancer were treated within the waiting time standard, compared to 85% for those referred with suspicion of urological cancers."