Professor Pat Price, leading oncologist and co-founder of this campaign, has spoken out after NHS waiting times for February 2024 were made public.
Professor Price said:
“This data is a heartbreaking reminder that the cancer crisis is not being recognised as the deadly threat that it is.
"There is a worrying trend of decline for cancer patients. Worse still, despite the NHS ambitions set in March 2021 to restore the percentage of patients being treated within 62 days of referral to pre-pandemic levels (around 75%), by the end of February 2024, only 63.9% were treated within 62 days. While 2,777 cancer patients waited over 104 days to start treatment.
"And now recent NHS documents seem to be admitting defeat by lowering ambitions to only 70% of patients receiving treatment within 62 days by March 2025.
"Cancer treatment capacity is beyond breaking point. What makes this frustration intolerable is when ministers and NHS leaders seem to suggest that everything is in hand because we are diagnosing more cancer patients.
"But what good is a cancer diagnosis if we don’t treat patients on time? The stark reality is that without a greater priority on treatment, these diagnosed patients just pile up on record waiting lists. If ever there was a time to get a grip on the situation and deliver a cancer plan backed by investment it is now.”