The Conservatives have come up with a cunning plan to ensure they will never miss cancer targets ever again.
New proposals, dubbed the Faster Diagnosis Standard, will see the lion’s share of targets, most of which have been routinely missed in recent years, being completely scrapped.
They say the plan is backed by leading cancer experts and will simplify the “outdated” standards, but the head of the Radiotherapy UK charity said she is “deeply worried” about what is being put forward.
Pat Price, who is also an oncologist and visiting professor at Imperial College London, said current performance was “shockingly bad”, and while too many targets could be disruptive, “the clear and simple truth is that we are not investing enough in cancer treatment capacity”.
According to BBC reports, the targets being kept are:
Six other targets, such as a two-week wait for a first consultant appointment, will be dropped.
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“By making sure more patients are diagnosed and treated as early as possible following a referral and replacing the outdated two-week wait target with the faster diagnosis standard already being used across the country, hundreds of patients waiting to have cancer ruled out or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.”
They added the changes will allow more patients to be referred “straight to test” and enable the wider use of diagnostic technologies like artificial intelligence.
New figures published by NHS England on Thursday showed cancer wait times remain well below targets set by the Government and health service.
In June, 261,006 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in England, up 6 per cent on 245,595 in May and 13 per cent year-on-year from 231,868 in June 2022.
Some 80.5 per cent of patients saw a specialist within two weeks, down from 80.8 per cent in May but below the target of 93 per cent, which was last met in May 2020.
A total of 59.2 per cent who had their first treatment in June after an urgent GP referral had waited less than two months, up slightly from 58.7 per cent in May but below the target of 85 per cent.
Meanwhile, 73.5 per cent of patients urgently referred for suspected cancer were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days, up from 71.3 per cent the previous month.
The NHS elective recovery plan sets a goal of March 2024 for 75 per cent of patients who have been urgently referred by their GP for suspected cancer to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days.
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