Anguish over more cancer care delays
THOUSANDS of cancer patients are having to wait more than two months to start treatment, data shows.
Just 79.8% of patients were seen within 62 days of an urgent GP referral; the NHS benchmark is 85%.
The February figures – the most recent – put cancer referral rates at their second lowest level on record.
Macmillan Cancer Support’s Moira Fraser warned: “Apart from the terrible anxiety it can cause, a delayed start to treatment could affect a patient’s prospects after treatment.”
NHS data also yesterday showed nearly 200,000 patients waited at least four hours to be admitted to A&Es in England over winter – the worst on record.
NHS England said it was “focused on delivering practical improvements”.
A bullied woman teacher in the South East, who quit the profession with a “debilitating psychiatric injury”, was awarded £125,000.
A woman teacher in the North West got nearly £48,000 after a prolonged attack by a girl pupil she had told to stop chewing gum.
A Yorkshire teacher whose hand was injured when it was pulled into a defective cutter in a technology lesson was granted £21,000.
A teacher in the North West hit by a ceiling panel, worsening a previous head injury, got £20,000.
A Midlands teacher got £13,750 for injuries suffered when pushed to the ground by a pupil.