What does this mean for people affected by cancer?
It can be easy to forget that behind these numbers are real people going through an incredibly anxious time.
Quantifying the impact of missing targets and longer waits on patient outcomes is difficult as the research is limited.
The picture is different for different cancer types – some progress quicker than others – but we know the overall impact is likely to be negative. One study estimated that a 4-week delay to cancer surgery led to a 6-8% increased risk of dying.
People with more aggressive cancers are prioritised for early treatment where possible, but there can be good reasons why someone might experience a long wait for treatment.
For example, it can take longer to plan treatments intending to cure someone’s cancer, and sometimes patients need prehabilitation before starting treatment to give them the best chance of recovering well.
But increases in missed targets mean people who need potentially lifesaving cancer treatments are waiting, and worrying, for longer – and that is a big concern.
Despite delays, people shouldn’t put off coming forward if they are worried about symptoms. It’s always better to be on the waiting list than not at all, and if doctors are concerned, they will push things through as quickly as possible.
Getting back on track
This month’s figures show that far too many patients continue to face long waits for treatment – despite the best efforts of NHS staff. These delays can increase anxiety, and for rapidly developing cancers, impact the treatment available.
It’s encouraging to see that the FDS target was achieved this month, but this has largely been driven by more people having cancer ruled out, rather than an overall improvement in speeding up cancer diagnoses.
We welcome the change to FDS reporting, which now distinguishes between the proportion of people diagnosed with cancer and those who have it ruled out. However, a New Cruk Analysis shows that the proportion of people diagnosed on time following an urgent referral has actually fallen since 2021, making it clear that more must be done to support timelier diagnosis. Expanding diagnostic capacity will be critical to ensuring the FDS is met for people diagnosed with cancer.
We also welcome the FDS target increasing to 80% by March 2026 as a promising step towards the originally proposed target of 95%. Diagnosing cancer can be more complex than ruling it out, but raising the target will help make progress on diagnosing more cancer patients quicker.
Whilst the 10 Year Health Plan restated commitments to improving NHS productivity and addressing long waiting lists, there was no specific mention of Cancer Waiting Times. CRUK’s new FDS analysis, together with July’s cancer waiting time figures, show just how important it is that the National Cancer Plan commits to meeting all cancer waiting time targets by the end of this Parliament.
