5 years to clear backlog

IT WILL take more than five years to clear the NHS cancer backlog at the current rate, Macmillan Cancer Support warned yesterday.

This is four years longer than the charity’s previous forecasts, with some patients likely to be waiting until September 2027 to be treated.

It was hoped the NHS could tackle the backlog by treating 10 per cent more cancer patients each month than it did before the pandemic.

But Macmillan revealed the rate is 1.8 per cent. Boss Lynda Thomas blamed ‘chronic staff shortages’.

It comes as Professor Karol Sikora, a former World Health Organisation cancer expert, said patients should be able to book themselves in for diagnostic tests without having to see a GP.