Fry’s diagnosis ‘led to hospitals missing wait-time targets’

STEPHEN FRY’S prostate cancer diagnosis led to a surge in referrals to NHS services and contributed to missed waiting-time targets, it has been claimed.

Matthew Swindells, NHS England deputy chief executive, said there had been an “extraordinary spike in demand” in recent months.

This was “largely driven” by the announcement that the writer and television presenter had urged “men of a certain age” to get themselves tested, Mr Swindells told the Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester.

Figures from April to June show 80.8 per cent of patients with suspected cancer started treatment within 62 days of being urgently referred by a GP. This is below the 85 per cent target.

Mr Swindells said the drop in performance against cancer targets was complex. “When we look at the data, there’s been an extraordinary spike in demand,” he said.

Adding that while the numbers look “terrible”, the NHS “treated more patients in the first quarter of this year within 62 days than it ever has before”.