Patients facing longest wait in country for start of cancer treatment
CANCER treatment waiting times in mid and south Essex are the worst performing in England, with almost one in five patients having to wait more than a month for treatment to start.
In the NHS Mid And South Essex Integrated Care Board area, 81.5 per cent of patients waited less than a month for their cancer treatment to start in November. That is the lowest ratio of any region in the country.
The NHS has a target that 96 per cent of cancer patients will wait 31 days or less from a decision to treat, to receiving their first treatment.
A national average of 90.1 per cent of patients who started their treatment in November just did so within 31 days.
Mid and South Integrated Care System, which covers hospitals in
Basildon, Southend and Chelmsford, has received additional investment from the Cancer Alliance - an NHS England partnership of clinicians and managers who co-ordinate and improve cancer care which it says will be used to provide additional clinic capacity.
It also has started a transformation programme which is focusing on how it can make the best use of clinics and how it can work more closely with GPs and community health partners to improve early detection and diagnosis. It is aiming for 75 per cent of diagnoses to be completed within the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard by April 2024.
Andrew
Pike,
chief
Andrew
Pike
operating officer at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Waiting for any cancer treatment is difficult and we are sorry that some people are waiting longer than we would like.
“Our cancer teams work to ensure people are seen in order of clinical priority, providing extra clinics and surgical resources across our three hospitals, making sure people are seen and treated as quickly as possible.
“Continued industrial action and the holiday period has meant that our performance has been particularly challenged, but we have clear recovery plans in place, with a focus on areas that are experiencing the greatest demand for their services.”
While mid and south Essex has the worst 31-day treatment figures in the country, other areas of Essex are still below the NHS target of 96 per cent of people starting treatment within 31 days following a decision to treat.
Cancer services have been given added noteworthiness since the news that King Charles is having immediate treatment for cancer.
Meanwhile, thanks to a life-saving lung health check programme, more than 100 local people have now had previously undiscovered lung cancer found and treated in mid and south Essex.
Southend has one of the highest rates of death from lung cancer in the UK and some of the highest rates of smoking with 42 per cent of the local population labelled as smokers.
The programme is one of the second wave of sites to be rolled out as part the NHS Long Term Plan.
Our cancer teams work to ensure people are seen in order of clinical priority.