NI Health: Cancer treatment waits show 'system is failing'

The number of people in Northern Ireland waiting more than a month to start cancer treatment is five times higher than a decade ago.

Macmillan Cancer research collated between April 2011 and March 2012 said on average 18 people each month waited more than a month for treatment.

By March 2022 that monthly figure had increased to 92 people - or by more than 400%.

Macmillan Cancer said the jump revealed a system that was "failing" patients.

Sarah Christie, Macmillan policy and public affairs manager, told BBC News NI that the figures revealed a "dark insight into a healthcare system that is failing time and again to meet the needs of people living with cancer".

Ms Christie said: "People have a right to be frustrated. They deserve access to care at the right time.

"We need a government in place so that change can happen and, crucially, that the three-year budget that had been planned before the executive collapsed can be signed off.

"It is impossible to deliver transformation on short-term budget."

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Source: BBC News, 29 September 2022