Less than one in seven cancer patients started their treatment more than two months after GP referral, with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group hitting the NHS target. During 2017, 2,343 total cancer patients were referred to hospital urgently by their doctors, and 351 did not start their treatment within 62 days, according to NHS figures. That means 85% were seen within two months, hitting the government’s operational target. The target aims to ensure almost all patients start treatment in two months.
However, it does allow for a minority of patients who choose to delay their course of treatment, which may be chemotherapy, surgery or radiation therapy. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG’s figure is roughly the same as 2016, when 84.5% of patients started treatment two months after referral. Across England most CCGs are running below the operational target. The percentage of patients starting treatment within two months nationwide has dropped from 87.1% in 2012-2013, to 82.1% in the first three quarters of the current financial year. Nationally the target hasn’t been hit since 2013.