Two-thirds of cancer waiting time targets to be axed in England

Two-thirds of NHS cancer waiting time targets are expected to be scrapped in England, in a move the health service says aims to catch cancers earlier. An NHS England spokesperson said: "By making sure more patients are diagnosed and treated as early as possible following a referral and replacing the outdated two-week wait target with the faster diagnosis standard already being used across the country, hundreds of patients waiting to have cancer ruled out or diagnosed could receive this news faster." Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused the Conservatives of creating a cancer care crisis and leaving patients waiting "Dangerously long". According to the latest figures, 59.2% of cancer patients in England who had their first treatment in June after an urgent GP referral had waited less than two months. Naser Turabi, Cancer Research UK's director of evidence and implementation, said of the figures last week: "Despite the best efforts of NHS staff, it's incredibly worrying that cancer waiting times in England are once again amongst the worst on record."

Read the full story

 Related companies

Make a complaint about NHS England by viewing their customer service contacts.

•