Delays in treatment for the deadly cancer have tripled in the past dozen years, with more than a third of patients waiting longer than the two-month target, new government figures show.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that 33.4% of cancer patients are waiting longer than the standard 62 days to access treatment – the maximum time patients should wait between being referred for cancer treatment and starting treatment.
The number of patients in England not being treated within this limit has increased threefold compared to the equivalent statistic of 11% in 2012.
The news comes alongside separate analysis of NHS England waiting times by the Catch Up with Cancer campaign, revealing that since January 2020, a quarter of a million patients have exceeded the 62-day wait target from GP referral to treatment.
The new figures come despite an NHS plan to reduce the backlog of non-emergency surgeries that has built up over the COVID-19 pandemic announced in February 2022.
Measures included increasing healthcare capacity and prioritizing diagnosis and treatment.
While some of the increased wait may be related to the growing number of people with cancer due to an aging population, experts say that is only part of the explanation.
They point out that cancer survival rates in the UK lag behind many nations in Western and Eastern Europe and call for an overhaul of NHS services to ensure patients are diagnosed and treated more quickly.
Professor Pat Price, Chair of Radiotherapy UK and co-founder of Catch Up With Cancer, said: “We are dealing with a desperate legacy of delays in cancer treatment and without urgent action this will only get worse. The figures from the Office for National Statistics are devastating and show why we are at the bottom of the league tables for cancer survival. Waiting times for cancer treatment are close to record levels for a long time. This must be put firmly back at the top of the political agenda – decisive action would save thousands of people’s lives every year. The government has said the NHS is broken. Any effort to fix it must prioritise cancer and include a dedicated cancer plan to ensure people get the treatment they need on time.”
Leading cancer expert Professor Karol Sikora, a former World Health Organization adviser on cancer care, said: “It’s horrific. Patients are dying waiting for treatment. These numbers have gotten worse. Successive ministers have blamed the covid pending issues, but that is no longer the reason.
Patients wait weeks and months knowing they have cancer, knowing it is spreading, and just waiting for treatment.”
Professor Sikora highlighted research showing that the risk of dying from cancer increases by 10% for every month of delay in treatment and called on the government to improve patients’ access to general practitioners and cancer diagnostics so that cancers are detected earlier, when they are more treatable and potentially curable.
He added: “We urgently need to give patients better access to diagnostics and screening so that cancers can be detected earlier and treatment can be started sooner.”
The analysis comes as figures show there are more admissions to private hospitals than in any previous quarter on record.
An unprecedented number of these paid using private health insurance rather than having it funded directly by the patient – known as self-payment. The biggest increases were in the 20-29 and 30-39 age groups, both up 13%.
Emily Jones, director at leading independent consultancy Broadstone, which analysed the figures, said: “After a record high in 2023, private healthcare admissions have continued to rise in the first three months of 2024 to new all-time highs as the NHS crisis pushes hundreds of thousands of patients into the private sector. It seems inevitable that we will soon see more than a million private healthcare admissions each year.
“It is no surprise that this trend is being driven almost entirely by private health insurance, as employers recognise the threat of poor health which has manifested itself in increasing numbers of economic inactivity.”
The analysis comes as figures show there are more admissions to private hospitals than in any previous quarter on record.
An unprecedented number of these paid using private health insurance rather than having it funded directly by the patient – known as self-payment. The biggest increases were in the 20-29 and 30-39 age groups, both up 13%.
Emily Jones, director at leading independent consultancy Broadstone, which analysed the figures, said: “After a record 2023, private healthcare admissions have continued to rise in the first three months of 2024 to new all-time highs as the NHS crisis pushes hundreds of thousands of patients into the private sector. It seems inevitable that we will soon see more than a million private healthcare admissions each year.
“It is no surprise that this trend is being driven almost entirely by private health insurance, as employers recognise the threat of poor health which has manifested itself in increasing numbers of economic inactivity.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have inherited a broken NHS. Too many cancer patients are waiting too long for treatment, and we are determined to change that. As part of our mission to get the NHS back on its feet, we will improve cancer survival rates by meeting all cancer waiting time targets within five years, and we will double the number of MRI and CT scanners so that no patient has to wait longer than they should.”