NHS in ‘full-blown crisis’ as cancer backlog worsens

NHS performance on cancer is going backwards despite record cash injections, the Public Accounts Committee warned yesterday.

MPS said “the NHS is in full-blown crisis and all the metrics are going in the wrong direction” as they highlighted concerns about cancer in particular.

The report found that since NHS England published a recovery plan in February, aimed at clearing backlogs, the proportion of cancer patients facing long waits for treatment had increased.

Latest quarterly data show just 61 per cent of urgent referrals started treatment within two months – the lowest on record – against a target of 85 per cent.

MPS said the NHS in England would miss key targets for recovery of the health service, including promises to hit the 62-day target by March this year.

They said it was also clear that promises to increase activity to 129 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by 2024-25 were “unachievable”.

Dame Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Despite a significant cash injection meant to begin to help the recovery from the pandemic, the NHS is in full-blown crisis and all the metrics are going in the wrong direction. On the evidence we have received, the NHS will not achieve the targets in its recovery plan and that means health, longevity and quality of life indicators will continue to go backwards for the people of this country. That is totally unacceptable in a nation as wealthy as ours.”

The PAC said plans set out by NHS England and the Government last year were based on “over-optimistic” assumptions about low levels of Covid and minimal pressure on the health service this winter. The report said: “NHS England’s three-year recovery programme for elective and cancer care is very ambitious, relies on innovative but relatively untested approaches, and is already falling short of expectations.”

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Trust leaders have made remarkable progress towards eliminating 78-week waits by April given the mounting pressures they face. However, a very tough winter, the impact of industrial action and workforce shortages are just some of the challenges threatening to undermine these efforts.”