Less than 3% of NHS England trusts hit cancer waiting-time targets last year

Less than three per cent of NHS England trusts hit cancer waiting-time targets last year, new figures revealed – as campaigners warn of a ‘shocking gap’ in care. 

Of 125 hospital trusts in England analysed, only three (2.4%) hit the target of treating 85 per cent of patients within 62 days of an urgent referral in 2022, it was found. 

Some trusts have not hit the standard for at least eight years, according to the Guardian. 

More than 66,000 cancer patients had to wait more than two months for their first treatment after a referral last year, the figures revealed. 

It coms as one leading cancer charity said this weekend that the cancer care system was not fit for purpose, with ‘lives left hanging in the balance’. 

Less than three per cent of NHS England trusts hit cancer waiting-time targets last year, new figures revealed – as campaigners warn of a ‘shocking gap’ in care. [File image] 

The failure of most hospital trusts in England to hit the target has been revealed after a House of Commons public accounts committee report, published last week, claimed that waiting times were at their worst yet. 

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said the figures proved that even before the pandemic struck, the number of hospital trusts meeting targets was falling fast.  

‘Now the situation is so bad that barely any hospitals are able to provide patients with the treatment they need on time. Ministers have consistently failed to plan ahead or provide adequate funding,’ she said. 

‘There is a shocking gap in cancer care from one area to another.’

The analysis conducted by the House of Commons library, commissioned by the Lib Dems, showed that at some trusts more than half of cancer patients waited longer than two months before treatment after an urgent GP referral in 2022.

At the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS trust, 3,060 patients were treated for cancer after an urgent GP referral last year. Out of those patients, 1,953 (64%) had to wait longer than 62 days for their first treatment.

Meanwhile, the three trusts that did hit the performance target were Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS trust, Epsom and St Helier University Hospital NHS trust and Queen Victoria Hospital NHS trust in West Sussex, according to the Guardian. 

Of 125 hospital trusts in England analysed, only three (2.4%) hit the target of treating 85 per cent of patients within 62 days of an urgent referral

Recent NHS figures show that from October to December, just 61 per cent of patients were treated within two months of an urgent referral for suspected cancer – with 17,465 patients waiting longer than the treatment standard. 

Minesh Patel, head of policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘With cancer waiting times in England officially the worst on record and a chronic shortage of cancer professionals, it’s clear that the current cancer care system simply isn’t fit for purpose. 

‘Despite the efforts of hardworking NHS staff, too many people are facing agonising waits for cancer treatment, with their lives left hanging in the balance.’ 

Hospital trusts said they are trying their best to reduce waiting list backlogs. 

A spokesperson for University Hospitals Birmingham said that an ‘immense amount of work’ had been done to improve capacity. 

The Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘We are working to reduce the 62-day cancer backlog – which has fallen 9% since peaking in 2020 – but we know there is more to do.’