- Cancer patients in England are experiencing longer diagnosis waits, with only half receiving a diagnosis within NHS England's 28-day target, a decline from 57.3 percent in late 2021 to 52.3 percent by mid-2024.
- More than 25,000 people waited over 28 days for a cancer diagnosis between April and June 2024, with urological cancers particularly affected, as only 29 percent of urgent referrals met the target.
- Cancer Research UK reports that improvements in the Faster Diagnosis Target (FDS) are primarily due to more cases being ruled out rather than diagnosed, and a third of patients wait over 62 days to begin treatment after an urgent referral.
- The charity is calling on the government to separately report cancer diagnoses from cases ruled out, implement a 'cancer guarantee' to meet waiting times, and raise the FDS target to 80 percent by the end of this parliament.
- The NHS states it is seeing more patients and making diagnostic targets more ambitious, with the Department of Health and Social Care aiming for an 80 percent FDS target from March 2026.
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