Over 300,000 cancer patients face potentially deadly treatment delays unless NHS improves

Cancer Research UK forecasts how many patients are set to wait longer than the 62-day maximum before they start treatment for their tumour - and the numbers are staggering

More than 300,000 cancer patients will face potentially deadly treatment delays over the next five years unless the NHS improves.

Cancer Research UK analysed the current NHS waiting times target, which says 85% of cancer patients should begin treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral.

They key target that has not been met since 2015 and in the first six months of this year just 65.9% of cancer patients were treated within the timeframe in England. This meant more than 30,000 patients did not start treatment on time. On the current trajectory CRUK estimates that between now and 2029 more than 301,000 people will not have been treated on time.

The charity says patients are also waiting too long to be diagnosed in the first place because of short staffing and lack of diagnostic equipment.

CRUK chief executive Michelle Mitchell, said: "Hardworking staff across the NHS are treating more patients in England than ever before, but this data provides a stark warning to the UK Government. Whilst it's reassuring that more patients are being referred for cancer checks, our health service does not have the required resources to cope with record numbers of people being diagnosed with cancer. Unless action is taken, things could be even worse in five years' time.”

By 2029 the number of urgent suspected cancer referrals is forecast to rise by a fifth, from 3.1 million in 2023 to about 3.75 million.

Claire Rowney, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said: "These latest bleak figures emphasise a devastating 'new normal' of long waits for people to get a cancer diagnosis and start vital treatment that gives them the best chance of survival."

It comes the week after a major report on the NHS from surgeon and former minister Lord Darzi said cancer care in England still lags behind other countries, and death rates are higher. His study found there had been "no progress whatsoever" in diagnosing cancer at the earliest stages I and II between 2013 and 2021.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Lord Darzi’s independent investigation found that cancer is more likely to be a death sentence for NHS patients than patients in other countries. This is completely unacceptable and why we are taking action to turn the NHS around, so cancer patients are diagnosed and treated on time.

“As part of our 10-year plan to radically reform our broken NHS, we will fight cancer on all fronts – through prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and research – to give people the care they need.”