England's NHS on Track to Miss Cancer Treatment Target by Nearly 10,000 Patients, Experts Warn

Nearly 10,000 more cancer patients in England will not be treated on time because the government will fail to meet its targets, experts have warned, amid what they describe as a failure of leadership, focus and resource.

The NHS set an interim target to treat 80% of cancer patients within 62 days of urgent referral or consultant upgrade by March 2027. But with little more than 100 days to go, the proportion of patients starting treatment on time in September was 70.7%, down from 71.9% in August, NHS figures show.

Analysis of official figures reveals the NHS would have to treat 2,850 additional patients on time each month to get back on track, assuming patient volumes remain consistent.

According to calculations by Radiotherapy UK, 24,400 cancer patients a month would need to start treatment on time to hit the 80% target in March. But the NHS is only treating about 21,500 cancer patients a month within the 62-day target, leaving a monthly shortfall of 2,850 and a cumulative shortfall of 9,490 patients, the charity found.

Prof Pat Price, the chair of Radiotherapy UK and a leading oncologist, said: 'The government is going to miss its cancer treatment target because the NHS does not have enough staff or equipment to treat the number of patients coming through its doors. This lack of leadership means thousands more people could die because they don't get their treatment on time.'

The analysis also found significant disparities between treatment of common cancer types. While more than two-thirds of patients with prostate and breast cancers were treated within two months (70.1% and 68.8% respectively), only 60.9% of those with lung cancer and 60% of those with gynaecological cancers were treated on time. For head and neck cancers, barely half, 56.5%, were treated on time.

Regional inequalities were also stark. The Midlands had the lowest proportion treated on time, at 66.6%, compared with 77.3% in London.

Mark Lawler, a professor of digital health and chair in translational cancer genomics at Queen's University Belfast, believes failures of accountability and focus are to blame. He said: 'The whole system is being held together by goodwill glue alone. Lack of leadership is derailing efforts to improve cancer survival.'

Analysis of the latest cancer diagnosis targets by Cancer Research UK shows that, over the last year, barely half, 55.4%, of patients with cancer were diagnosed within 28 days of an urgent referral, against the faster diagnostic standard target of 80%, compared with 79.1% of patients who received the all-clear on time.

Naser Turabi, Cancer Research UK's director of health policy and evidence, said hospital capacity was not able to keep pace with surging demand for cancer diagnosis, with urgent referrals in England up about 20% over the past four years alone.

Dr Hilary Williams, the Royal College of Physicians clinical vice-president and a consultant in medical oncology, said crucial earlier diagnosis was only beneficial if patients could then be treated quickly, and that closing the gap requires sufficient capacity across the whole cancer pathway.

Dr Stephen Harden, the president of the Royal College of Radiologists, said 'chronic shortages' of clinical radiologists and clinical oncologists, who diagnose, monitor and treat cancer, were 'driving dangerous delays' in diagnosing and treating the disease.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'Cancer waiting times are moving in the right direction, with all three cancer standards better than a year ago, and around 290,000 more people over the last year getting diagnosed on time or having cancer ruled out, compared to the year before the election.' The spokesperson added that the national cancer plan will help more people to get diagnosed earlier and begin treatment sooner.