Call to give UK cancer patients legal right to be treated within two months

If brought in, the 62-day entitlement could mean the NHS having to pay for patients to receive treatment elsewhere in order to meet the deadline. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

Cancer patients should have the legal right to be treated within two months, even if that means the NHS has to pay for them to be treated privately or abroad, according to international experts.

Writing in the Lancet Oncology, they say cancer patients should have the legally enforceable entitlement to be treated within 62 days of an urgent referral by a GP.