Last year was the ‘worst year on record’ for NHS cancer treatment delays in England, a charity has warned, as grim new waiting-time statistics are published.
According to the figures from NHS England, more than 30,000 people newly diagnosed with cancer in England waited more than a month to start treatment following the clinical decision to do so.
This is the highest annual figure since current records began in 2009, and more than three times as many people as just five years ago, the charity Macmillan Cancer Research has warned.
Performance against the 31-day treatment target was worse in every month of 2023 than in the same month of 2022, and overall annual performance has fallen each successive year from 2017 onwards, it added.
The number of people who waited more than two months to start treatment following an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer also rose to a new highest on record in 2023.
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While there were some improvements in 2023 for the main diagnosis-focused 28-day target, there were still more than 800,000 people who waited more than four weeks to have a cancer diagnosis confirmed or ruled out. The target has only been met once since it started being measured in April 2021, Macmillan added.
Over the past 10 years, the number of people with cancer waiting longer than a month to start treatment in England has increased at a rate five times greater than the total number of people starting treatment, it also warned.
Gemma Peters, chief executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Behind the figures are real lives being turned upside down, with thousands of people waiting far too long to find out if they have cancer and to begin their treatment, causing additional anxiety at what is already a very difficult time. With over three million people in the UK living with cancer and an ageing population, this is only set to rise.
“The prime minister has admitted the UK government’s failure to cut waiting lists, which is simply not good enough. It’s time to stick to your word and make cancer a priority. We want to see a long-term cancer strategy to ensure cancer care is fit for the future ensuring everybody with a cancer diagnosis gets the timely and quality care they so desperately need and deserve,” Peters added.
Separately, it has emerged that hundreds of thousands of cancer patients in the UK are being forced to pay for private treatment as record NHS waiting times continue.
With cancer diagnosis and treatment in the public spotlight following King Charles’ treatment for cancer, figures obtained by The Guardian have suggested nearly 300,000 people in the UK paid for chemotherapy in the last five years.
Between 2018 and 2023, 282,560 people funded chemotherapy treatments through insurance, according to the Private Healthcare Information Network. A further 13,900 paid for their own chemotherapy.
Quitting smoking reduces cancer risk
Finally, stopping smoking at any age helps to reduce the risk of cancer, a major study has concluded, with the most substantial drop in cancer risk coming after the first decade of quitting.
The study published in Jama Network Open analysed medical data from nearly three million Koreans who had health examinations from 2002 onwards and recorded cases of cancer, including lung, liver, stomach and colorectal tumours until 2019. Over the course of the study, nearly 200,000 participants received a cancer diagnosis.
The chances of developing cancer halved in people who had quit for at least 15 years, compared with those who continued to smoke, with the risk from lung cancer falling further and faster, particularly in those who quit before middle age.
As the researchers concluded: “In this population-based retrospective cohort study, sustained smoking cessation was associated with significantly reduced risk of cancer after 10 years since quitting. Quitting at any age helped reduce the cancer risk, and especially for lung cancer, early cessation before middle age exhibited a substantial risk reduction.”
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