CANCER WAITING TIMES

All four countries have a 62 day benchmark waiting time for urgent cancer patients - though have different targets for how many patients should be seen within this time. In recent years all four countries have also seen cancer waits trend upwards. However, while England and Wales have seen moderate rises - and waits have actually fallen recently in Scotland - Northern Ireland has seen a huge rise. Almost half (47.7%) of patients there were waiting longer than two months for treatment from their first referral in July to September 2019. According to the Northern Irish ministerial target, that figure should not be rising above 5%.