Alan, a 70-year-old lung cancer patient, experienced a 128-day wait for surgery after his diagnosis in June of the previous year, during which his cancer spread to his lymph nodes. His case illustrates a broader challenge within England’s healthcare system, where performance on cancer treatment timelines has deteriorated rather than improved in recent months.
The government’s National Cancer Plan and NHS Planning Guidance, announced earlier this year, established targets for 80% of patients to begin treatment within 62 days of urgent GP referral by March 2027, escalating to 85% by March 2029. However, current data from NHS England shows that only 71.2% of patients are meeting the 62-day benchmark, representing a decline from the previous figure of 71.9%. According to analysis by Radiotherapy UK shared with the BBC, achieving the March 2027 target would require more than 2,800 additional patients to start treatment each month, representing a near 15% increase over current volumes. Prof Pat Price, a leading clinical oncologist, characterized the government targets as “impossible to hit” and attributed failures to a lack of planning and accountability. Research indicates that for each month a cancer patient delays starting treatment, their survival chances decrease by approximately 10% on average.
Systemic challenges are contributing to prolonged waiting times across multiple trusts. Issues include diagnostic bottlenecks in pathology services, radiotherapy capacity constraints, workforce shortages, missed appointments, and infrastructure problems such as broken imaging machines. Some trusts with notable performance declines cited industrial action, staff sickness, and reliance on external diagnostic providers. Salisbury District Hospital has made progress through focused operational improvements, including ensuring patient appointment awareness, maintaining IT systems, recruiting staff, and optimizing surgical schedules. Innovative procedures, such as intraoperative margin assessment for skin cancer, have also helped reduce follow-up interventions.
Stakeholders emphasize that meaningful improvement requires sustained commitment and resources. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson stated that the National Cancer Plan will facilitate earlier diagnosis and quicker treatment initiation. Macmillan Cancer Support called for the government to establish the promised National Cancer Board to oversee progress, noting that visible advancement is necessary to fulfill the plan’s ambitions.
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