Number of cancer care ‘long waiters’ has trebled
The proportion of cancer patients waiting more than three months to start treatment has trebled in five years, a report reveals.
A shortage of NhS staff and equipment has fuelled delays, which significantly reduce survival chances and increase anxiety, researchers warn.
Some 4.1 per cent of patients waited at least 104 days – the definition of a ‘long-waiter’ – to start treatment following an urgent referral for suspected cancer in 2017/18. This soared to 11.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2022/23, according to analysis by Cancer Research UK and the National Disease Registration Service.
According to NhS targets, 85 per cent of patients should start their first treatment within 62 days of an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer. Between this January and May, there were 9,964 long-waiters.
Previous studies have shown that every month of delay in starting cancer treatment typically reduces survival chances by 10 per cent.
The NhS last met all cancer waiting time targets in england in 2015. It has come under growing pressure amid a rise in cases, with the number expected to reach around half a million a year by 2040.
Cancer Research UK and the National Disease Registration Servic conducted a ‘deep-dive’ into cancer treatment delays for their long-waiters report.
A significant proportion occurred because of ‘healthcare provider-initiated delays’, which includes equipment breakdowns, it found.
In April to June 2022, these factors were behind almost half of delays for long-waiters.
The report warns: ‘This indicates that a large number of these delays are potentially not medically warranted but due to health system issues including limited capacity.’
Cancer Research UK urged the Government to provide the NhS with the equipment and staff it ‘desperately needs to diagnose and treat patients on time’.
Around a quarter of delays were due to medical reasons, such as patients not being well enough for the tests to take place.
Patient-initiated delays, such as them cancelling appointments, led to 6 per cent of long waits.
Those with lower gastrointestinal cancers, including of the bowel, were more likely to face long waits compared with people with other forms of the disease.
Dr John Butler, of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘The NhS is treating more patients than ever before... but we want to be doing more – and capacity is what’s stopping us.
‘This problem with capacity – not having enough beds, equipment or staff – started before the pandemic, and it could get worse.
‘Unless we urgently start planning for this, the NhS won’t be prepared to cope.’
An NhS england spokesman said: ‘Staff are working hard to see and treat more people with cancer than ever before, delivering over 55,000 cancer treatments in May.’
‘Not prepared to cope’