A&E crisis ‘delaying treatment for cancer patients’

By Henry THE number of NHS cancer patients waiting longer than the crucial twomonth target window has nearly doubled in the last five years, a new report reveals.

Macmillan Cancer Support has warned that patients are dying because overrun A&E departments are draining the hospital resources needed to give them the prompt treatment they need.

One in six people diagnosed with the disease began treatment after the aimed-for 62 days in 2016, according to the charity, making it the third consecutive year in which the health service failed to keep pace with demand.

NHS England’s Cancer Strategy is supposed to ensure fast access to treatment. However, priority for appointments for blood tests and other checks needed before surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy is increasingly being given to A&E patients. The charity also said that the crisis in social care is ham- pering cancer treatment because operations frequently have to be cancelled due to surgical beds being taken up by older patients for whom spaces cannot be found in care homes.

Following an urgent referral, usually by a GP, NHS patients are supposed to begin substantive treatment within two months, having seen a cancer specialist and undergone advanced diagnostic procedures in the meantime.

The new Macmillan analysis shows that more than 100,000 patients have had to wait longer than this in the past five years.

Departments providing diagnostic services such as X-rays, CT scans, biopsies and blood tests are used by all types of patients, but emergency patients “always take priority in these slots,” according to Dr Fran Woodward, Macmillan’s executive director of policy and impact.

“The extra admissions is not only a crisis for A&E,” she said. “It’s very simple that starting treatment at an early stage gives people a better chance of survival.”

Last year saw a 23 per cent year-onyear rise in the number of people missing the target, according to the Macmillan report. Announced in 2015, the Cancer Strategy was accompanied by a commitment to spend more than £200 million. Macmillan last night called on the Department of Health to provide an up-to-date figure for the total amount of money it had actually spent on cancer care in England. An NHS spokesman said: “For cancer patients, it’s successful treatment that matters most, so Macmillan might also mention that NHS cancer survival rates are now at their highest ever.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “We want to lead the world in the fight against cancer and have already announced up to £300 million a year by 2020 to meet our new target for patients to be given a definitive diagnosis, or the all clear, within 28 days of a GP referral.”