UK cancer charity launches short film to highlight and clarify potentially dangerous confusion around national NHS cancer performance targets
Radiotherapy UK today launches a powerful new short film aimed at highlighting and clarifying what we believe to be a potentially dangerous confusion around two similarly named but very different national cancer targets.
Professor Pat Price, chair of Radiotherapy UK, co-founder of the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign, and a leading oncologist said:
“We have taken this step to set the record straight on appalling cancer treatment performance in this country.
“There is a seriously incorrect narrative currently circulating in the media, Westminster and Whitehall, that treatment times for cancer patients are improving.
“The performance against two similarly named (they both have the phrase ‘62 day’ in their title) but totally different cancer targets, is being widely and incorrectly cited as evidence that the performance in treating patients who actually have cancer, the 62 day treatment target, is improving. It is not.
“There is some welcome improvement in the interim 62 day backlog target which mainly deals with patients who do not have cancer.
“But the quarterly performance against the crucial 62 day treatment target for cancer patients is the worst on record, with little sign of any significant imminent improvement.
“This is not just about semantics or dry statistics.
“This really matters to cancer patients as every 4-week delay in treatment can increase the risk of death by around 10%.
“Our fear is that if parliamentarians and others involved in policy development are lulled into a false sense of security by the incorrect narrative currently circulating, we risk not making the changes needed to address this dangerous and potentially deadly cancer crisis.”
The film has been distributed to a large number of MPs and Peers as part of a social media campaign.
Notes
- Professor Pat Price is available for interview on this subject.
The two 62 day cancer targets referred to in the video:
- The 62 day diagnostic target, often referred to as “Backlog of patients waiting longer than 62 days from an urgent referral for suspected cancer” contains a majority (90%) of patients on this pathway do not have cancer and are waiting for it to be ruled out. It is available here (https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/management-information-on-cancer/).
- The crucial 62 day cancer treatment target – this is the long standing operational standard and applies to patients who actually have cancer. It specifies that 85% of cancer patients should wait a maximum of 62 days to begin their first definitive treatment following an urgent referral for suspected cancer. The latest quarter is the worst on record and is available in multiple data forms here (https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/quarterly-prov-cwt/2022-23-quarterly-provider-based-cancer-waiting-times-statistics/provider-based-cancer-waiting-times-for-q4-2022-23-provisional/) and a useful commentary here (https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Q4-Cancer-Waiting-Times-Quarterly-Commentary-Provider-based-Provisional.pdf) This includes the NHS graph that features in the video, figure 7, which is also reproduced below.
