Almost all NHS trusts are missing a major cancer target, with some of the worst performing trusts seeing only around half of patients on time, leaving some waiting for more than 100 days.
The NHS has a long-standing target for 85 per cent of patients to wait no more than 62 days from their cancer referral being received to starting treatment - but this target has not been met on a national level since 2014.
The government’s 10-year plan aims to turn around cancer services in England, which includes a pledge to hit all NHS cancer waiting time targets by 2029 and give more patients access to cutting-edge treatments, such as robot-assisted surgery and genomic testing.
An interim target of March 2026 for 75 per cent of patients to wait no more than 62 days for treatment has also been set under the plan.
But this was only managed by around a quarter of trusts (33 of 119) in 2025 - although this is up slightly from 29 trusts in 2024.
About one in ten NHS hospital trusts (12 of 199) failed to offer 40 per cent of their patients cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral in 2025.
Only one trust was below 50 per cent in 2025 – Mid & South Essex, on 45.4 per cent – while two were under 50 per cent in 2024: Guy’s & St Thomas’ (47.7 per cent) and Mid & South Essex (47.0 per cent).
The new analysis of NHS England figures shows just three of 119 acute trusts with comparable data hit or surpassed the 85 per cent target last year, Calderdale and Huddersfield (89.2 per cent of patients), Homerton Healthcare (85.8 per cent) and Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells (85.7 per cent) all hit the target.
More people than ever are surviving cancer, and death rates have decreased by 22 per cent in the past 50 years, but diagnoses ballooned to more than 354,820 in 2023, compared to 327,174 before the pandemic, as early diagnosis improves and treatment options have increased.
While more people than ever are being diagnosed, fewer are being treated within the government’s target, with 100,000 waiting longer in 2025, analysis of NHS data by Cancer Research UK for The Independent shows.
Doctors say the delays mean some patients’ cancer has progressed to later stages by the time they are seen, which means they often need additional or more invasive treatments, piling further pressure on services.
Analysis of NHS data also shows in some trusts, about one in seven patients who began cancer treatment in December 2025 had been waiting more than 104 days since an urgent referral.
At University Hospitals of Leicester, 13.7 per cent of patients starting treatment in December had waited this long, as well as 14.5 per cent of patients at Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, 14.9 per cent at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and 15.5 per cent at Guy’s and St Thomas’.
The proportion was as high as one in six patients at Hull University Teaching Hospitals (16.5 per cent) and Mid and South Essex (17.0 per cent).
An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS is seeing and treating record numbers of patients for cancer, with more than three quarters of people receiving a diagnosis or all clear within four weeks, but there are still too many people experiencing unacceptably long waits for their first treatment.
“Our landmark National Cancer Plan sets out a clear roadmap to ensuring we are meeting all three cancer standards to see and treat patients on time over the next three years, with further improvements to make care more personalised and significantly improve survival.”
The list reads, from left to right: name of NHS trust; percentage of patients in 2025 who began their first treatment for cancer within 62 days of an urgent referral; percentage (in brackets) in 2024 who began their first treatment within 62 days.
- Calderdale & Huddersfield 89.2% (89.4%)
- Homerton Healthcare 85.8% (79.7%)
- Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells 85.7% (85.4%)
- East & North Hertfordshire 84.95% (85.2%)
- Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals 83.6% (83.4%)
- Bolton 83.4% (83.4%)
- Epsom & St Helier University Hospitals 83.2% (86.6%)
- Royal Cornwall Hospitals 83.2% (83.5%)
- London North West University Healthcare 82.5% (77.9%)
- Northumbria Healthcare 81.5% (79.1%)
- Kingston & Richmond 80.7% (80.9%)
- Harrogate & District 80.1% (78.4%)
- Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals 79.8% (78.9%)
- Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care 79.7% (74.5%)
- Whittington Health 79.3% (65.6%)
- Warrington & Halton Teaching Hospitals 79.3% (78.9%)
- Chelsea & Westminster Hospital 79.1% (84.6%)
- Royal Surrey County Hospital 79.0% (78.8%)
- Airedale 79.0% (84.0%)
- West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals 78.9% (73.9%)
- Walsall Healthcare 78.4% (78.1%)
- West Suffolk 78.3% (78.1%)
- Surrey & Sussex 78.1% (73.7%)
- Mid Yorkshire 77.8% (67.2%)
- Frimley Health 76.8% (71.1%)
- The Dudley Group 76.5% (71.3%)
- Countess of Chester Hospital 76.1% (78.7%)
- University Hospitals Bristol & Weston 76.1% (74.9%)
- St George’s University Hospitals 75.9% (78.8%)
- University College London Hospitals 75.7% (74.0%)
- University Hospital Southampton 75.6% (78.4%)
- Royal Devon University Healthcare 75.5% (69.7%)
- Wirral University Teaching Hospital 75.02% (76.1%)
- Queen Victoria Hospital 74.99% (77.8%)
- Barts Health 74.8% (64.1%)
- South Tyneside & Sunderland 74.3% (74.5%)
- Wye Valley 74.2% (68.8%)
- Barnsley Hospital 74.1% (74.6%)
- East Sussex Healthcare 73.8% (68.2%)
- Croydon Health Services 73.8% (78.7%)
- Gloucestershire Hospitals 73.8% (66.7%)
- Gateshead Health 73.7% (74.3%)
- Barking, Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals 73.5% (72.5%)
- East Lancashire Hospitals 73.5% (70.6%)
- Royal Berkshire 73.4% (73.5%)
- East Kent Hospitals University 73.1% (67.5%)
- Rotherham 73.0% (76.9%)
- Stockport 73.0% (70.9%)
- Northern Care Alliance 72.8% (66.9%)
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals 72.6% (69.8%)
- Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh 72.4% (76.3%)
- Portsmouth Hospitals University 72.4% (72.4%)
- Liverpool University Hospitals 72.3% (70.2%)
- County Durham & Darlington 72.2% (73.5%)
- Cambridge University Hospitals 72.0% (73.0%)
- North West Anglia 71.9% (63.7%)
- Imperial College Healthcare 71.8% (73.2%)
- University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay 71.5% (76.3%)
- Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals 71.3% (69.8%)
- Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals 71.3% (75.04%)
- Great Western Hospitals 71.0% (69.2%)
- Dorset County Hospital 70.8% (74.5%)
- Somerset 70.7% (68.4%)
- Chesterfield Royal Hospital 70.2% (74.3%)
- Hampshire Hospitals 70.0% (71.8%)
- Bedfordshire Hospitals 69.9% (65.8%)
- University Hospitals Dorset 69.7% (68.0%)
- Royal Wolverhampton 69.2% (54.4%)
- Kettering General Hospital 69.1% (67.0%)
- East Cheshire 69.0% (71.3%)
- Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals 69.0% (61.1%)
- Hillingdon Hospitals 68.9% (67.8%)
- Torbay & South Devon 68.6% (71.8%)
- Medway 68.5% (70.9%)
- James Paget University Hospitals 68.5% (65.2%)
- East Suffolk & North Essex 68.2% (73.4%)
- Isle of Wight 67.6% (62.6%)
- Royal United Hospitals Bath 67.3% (69.1%)
- University Hospitals of Derby & Burton 67.2% (65.8%)
- Mid Cheshire Hospitals 66.6% (68.9%)
- Royal Free London 66.4% (54.8%)
- York & Scarborough Teaching Hospitals 66.2% (69.3%)
- Lewisham & Greenwich 66.1% (65.5%)
- Salisbury 66.0% (71.0%)
- University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire 65.9% (57.4%)
- Milton Keynes University Hospital 65.6% (65.6%)
- South Tees Hospitals 65.6% (60.8%)
- United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals 65.3% (63.9%)
- North Bristol 64.7% (62.7%)
- University Hospitals of North Midlands 64.7% (64.8%)
- Sherwood Forest Hospitals 64.7% (64.7%)
- Northampton General Hospital 64.5% (67.4%)
- Dartford & Gravesham 64.4% (71.9%)
- Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital 64.4% (56.7%)
- King’s College Hospital 64.3% (67.4%)
- Manchester University 63.7% (56.1%)
- George Eliot Hospital 63.6% (63.2%)
- University Hospitals Plymouth 63.0% (66.9%)
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals 62.9% (60.8%)
- Blackpool Teaching Hospitals 62.8% (67.4%)
- University Hospitals Sussex 62.7% (58.6%)
- Buckinghamshire Healthcare 62.5% (61.6%)
- Nottingham University Hospitals 61.5% (61.5%)
- Worcestershire Acute Hospitals 61.3% (63.2%)
- Lancashire Teaching Hospitals 61.1% (62.2%)
- North Tees & Hartlepool 60.8% (67.2%)
- Northern Lincolnshire & Goole 60.1% (56.3%)
- University Hospitals Birmingham 59.9% (53.3%)
- North Cumbria Integrated Care 59.6% (66.0%)
- Oxford University Hospitals 59.6% (62.6%)
- South Warwickshire 59.5% (63.4%)
- Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals 57.6% (52.1%)
- Princess Alexandra Hospital 57.1% (52.5%)
- University Hospitals Of Leicester 55.4% (57.3%)
- Guy’s & St Thomas’ 55.1% (47.7%)
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn 54.2% (61.3%)
- Hull University Teaching Hospitals 53.1% (54.8%)
- Sheffield Teaching Hospitals 50.1% (50.7%)
- Mid & South Essex 45.4% (47.0%)
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