Cancer recovery target will be missed, says national leader

The NHS will miss its target to return cancer treatment waits to pre-covid levels by next March, a national cancer leader has said.

When asked at the HSJ Cancer Forum whether the service would be back to “business as usual” performance by next spring, Liz Bishop, who sits on NHS England’s national cancer board, said: “I think it depends on what you mean by ‘business as usual’.

“If you mean hitting the 62-day numbers, and the 104-day numbers, by next March, then no. If I am honest, I don’t think we will.

“Do I know when that date will be? No, I don’t know. But what I do know is that everyone is working really hard to do it and get there.”

NHSE initially said the number of patients waiting longer than 62 days for treatment following an urgent referral would return to pre-pandemic levels by March this year, but has since pushed this back to March 2023.

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Source: HSJ, 18 March 2022