A ‘ cancer crisis’ is unfolding as waiting times for treatment continue to soar, warn expert doctors. Thousands of patients are waiting beyond the 62-day timeframe they should receive NHS treatment, leading to serious reductions in survival rates, according to a leading cancer charity.
Immediate action is needed to tackle the delays as international research claims that every four weeks of treatment delay can lead to a 10 per cent reduction in survival rates, says cancer charity Radiotherapy UK. According to the latest figures for July alone, published by the NHS last month, 5,348 cancer patients waited beyond 62 days for cancer treatment following an urgent referral.
That figure marks more than a third of the month’s cancer patients, 38.4 per cent, suffering delays to their treatment.
READ MORE: More than half a million people now on NHS waiting lists in Greater Manchester
Despite fewer patients seeking treatment in July in comparison to previous months, the waiting times deteriorated. During the first quarter of the 2022/23 period, 62.1 per cent of patients were treated within 62 days of their referral.
That figure is down on the previous quarter, the final stage of 2021/22, which saw 63.9 per cent of patients treated by the target 62 days.
Professor Pat Price, co-founder of Catch Up with Cancer campaign and leading oncologist, responded to the latest NHS England cancer waiting times for treatment within two months of referral. The leading oncologist slammed Health Secretary Therese Coffey’s priorities for improving the NHS and cutting the huge treatment backlog.
In September, the secretary shared that her approach to the NHS will be based on the acronym “ABCD” – ambulances, backlog, care, doctors and dentists..
But Prof Price hit back at the list, saying: “This data shows a worsening cancer crisis that must demand full and immediate attention of the new Health Secretary. As a clinician, it is shocking to me that cancer is not included within the C of her “ABCD” priorities.
“Even with fewer patients coming through, the waiting times continue to be staggeringly high, and getting worse. We must accept that this is a crisis and in doing so that a radical new approach is needed.
“Some of our best and most cost-effective solutions, in areas like radiotherapy, have so far been systematically overlooked and underfunded. I urge the Health Secretary to recognise the monumental crisis we are facing in cancer care, and agree to meet with me and other cancer experts to discuss the immediate solutions.
"This national health emergency will only worsen without immediate political action.”
Have you been affected by cancer treatment delays? Email helena.vesty@reachplc.com or have your say in our comments
The deteriorating monthly waiting times mean that almost 60,000 people have had their urgent cancer treatment delayed over the course of the last year. That number is anticipated to only grow.
Beyond cancer alone, more than half a million people are now on NHS waiting lists across Greater Manchester - with tens of thousands of them waiting for more than one year. There are 521,000 people currently waiting for elective care, almost double the number waiting before the pandemic, when it stood at 283,000.
That waiting list continues to grow by around 3,300-a-week on average.
Hospitals say they are working together to clear the backlog caused by Covid, dedicating days to power through particular types of operations or outsourcing some procedures to the private sector. But many patients sill face long waits - and worsening conditions - while hospital beds are largely full, pressure on A&E departments is high, and staff are increasingly fatigued.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our aim is to have 75 per cent of patients with an urgent GP referral either diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days, and we are making progress, with over 71 per cent reached in July.
“We are working at pace to improve outcomes for cancer patients across England, including by opening up to 160 community diagnostic centres – over 80 of which are already open and have delivered over two million addition checks.”
But the oncologist says that the country needs a 'cancer backlog buster' if patients are to get their treatments before its too late.
“Given that the cancer backlog is the most time critical and potentially deadliest of all the backlogs, there will be massive disappointment and alarm across the cancer community that it didn’t get a specific mention in the announcement by the Secretary of State for Health,” continued Prof Price. “Many will see this as the government giving up the war on cancer heralded by her predecessor. The workforce is exhausted and on its knees.
“We need a radical cancer plan and we need it now. In particular, there’s an urgent need for investment in new treatment capacity, especially in areas such as radiotherapy, which has so much potential to be a major cancer backlog buster.”
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