Devastatingly, this NHS data shows the worst quarter for cancer patients facing long waits for treatment this year. Over 6,313 cancer patients waited more than three months to start treatment from an urgent GP referral in Q4 2023/2024, one of the worst in recent memory.

The drumbeat of depressingly missed cancer targets continues as just under a third of people face treatment delays. I fear there is a desperate lack of ambition for cancer patients, as targets are routinely missed and there is no cancer plan to do things differently.

Crucial cancer treatments like radiotherapy could be doing so much more to treat patients quickly, but it isn’t happening. I feel for our cancer patients! Without a strategy to improve things, we will continue to see lives lost needlessly.

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