Cancer patients at South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust waiting up to 179 days for diagnosis or 194 days for treatment, as Tories scrap cancer standards
Data sourced by the Labour Party through Freedom of Information request has revealed patients at South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust are facing long waits for cancer care, showing that:
- Patients are waiting up to 83 days to see a cancer specialist after their GP has urgently referred them to hospital.
- Some patients are forced to wait 194 days to start cancer treatment.
Waiting times for cancer patients in England have worsened every year since the Conservatives came to power in 2010. The government is now set to cut two thirds of existing cancer waiting times standards for patients this week. The latest figures revealed that the NHS met none of its cancer targets in June 2023.
52 out of the 60 NHS trusts that responded to the FOI saw a patient wait more than half a year to start their treatment in 2022. The NHS standard is for 85 per cent of patients to start treatment within two months of an urgent referral, a target that has not been consistently met since early 2014.
The Labour Party has committed to cut cancer waiting times down to safe levels. The party’s plans to deliver better cancer care include training thousands more doctors and nurses every year, providing NHS staff with up-to-date modern technology, and reforming the health service so it catches cancer earlier.
Labour’s Councillor Jason Fojtik as a patient of Rother House in the Clopton ward he represents, said..
“The longer the Conservatives are in power, the longer people in Stratford upon Avon are forced to wait. These aren’t just statistics, these are people’s lives – people living in fear, and cancers been caught too late because patients aren’t being seen quickly enough.”
Wes Streeting, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary said:
“The Conservatives have created a crisis in cancer care, leaving patients waiting dangerously long for a diagnosis or treatment when their cancer could be spreading.
“Instead of addressing the problem, Rishi Sunak has now cynically moved the goalposts. The Prime Minister should focus on cutting waiting times, not cutting standards for patients.
“Labour will get cancer patients diagnosed and treated on time again by training the doctors and nurses the NHS needs, and reforming the service to make it fit for the future.”
ENDS
Notes
- All data is for the year 2022 and is from Freedom of Information requests submitted to NHS Trusts in England. 74 Trusts responded to the request, a response rate of 61%.
- National targets for cancer waiting times and when they were last met:
- 93% of patients should see a hospital specialist within two weeks of an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer. Last met in February 2019 outside of lockdown.
- 85% of patients should start treatment for cancer within two months of an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer. Last met December 2015.
- 75% of patients should be diagnosed (told they have cancer, or cancer being definitively excluded) within a month of an urgent referral. This target has never been met.
- Cancer waiting times have got worse for patients every year since the Conservatives came to power in 2010, according to NHS figures.
- Two thirds of NHS cancer targets are set to be scrapped this week
