Cancer waiting. Source agency: Health Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Waiting Times for Suspected Cancer Patients

Quarterly New Cancer Waiting Times statistics for the 62-day target: patients urgently referred with a suspicion of cancer to first cancer treatment; and for the 31-day target: all patients regardless of the route of referral from date decision to treat to first cancer treatment by NHS Board, Cancer Network and Cancer Type. Source agency: ISD Scotland (part of NHS National Services Scotland) Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: New Cancer Waiting Times

Statistical release published by the Scottish Government detailing cancer waiting-time statistics for urgently-referred patients by tumour site and NHS board.

Source agency: Scottish Government

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Cancer Waiting Times, Scotland

On the 9th of February an error was corrected for in these data. If you have downloaded these data previously to that date then please discard that file and use the updated version. Cancer Waiting Times statistics for the 62 day standard for patients urgently referred with a suspicion of cancer to first cancer treatment and for the 31 day standard for patients regardless of the route of referral from date decision to treat to first cancer treatment. Includes data presented by NHS Board and Cancer Type.

BackgroundCancer Waiting Time targets have been integrated into successive cancer strategies as indicators of cancer care quality in England. These targets are reported in national statistics for all cancers combined, but there is mixed evidence of their benefits and it is unclear if meeting Cancer Waiting Time targets, as currently defined and published, is associated with improved survival for individual patients, and thus if survival is a good metric for judging the utility of the targets.Methods and findingsWe used individually-linked data from the National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring Dataset (CWT), the cancer registry and other routinely collected datasets. The study population consisted of all adult patients diagnosed in England (2009–2013) with colorectal (164,890), lung (171,208) or ovarian (24,545) cancer, of whom 82%, 76%, and 77%, respectively, had a CWT matching record.The main outcome was one-year net survival for all matched patients by target attainment (‘met/not met’). The time to each type of treatment for the 31-day and 62-day targets was estimated using multivariable analyses, adjusting for age, sex, tumour stage and deprivation.The two-week wait (TWW) from GP referral to specialist consultation and 31-day target from decision to treat to start of treatment were met for more than 95% of patients, but the 62-day target from GP referral to start of treatment was missed more often. There was little evidence of an association between meeting the TWW target and one-year net survival, but for the 31-day and 62-day targets, survival was worse for those for whom the targets were met (e.g. colorectal cancer: survival 89.1% (95%CI 88.9–89.4) for patients with 31-day target met, 96.9% (95%CI 96.1–91.7) for patients for whom it was not met). Time-to-treatment analyses showed that treatments recorded as palliative were given earlier in time, than treatments with potentially curative intent.There are possible limitations in the accuracy of the categorisation of treatment variables which do not allow for fully distinguishing, for example, between curative and palliative intent; and it is difficult in these data to assess the appropriateness of treatment by stage. These limitations in the nature of the data do not affect the survival estimates found, but do mean that it is not possible to separate those patients for whom the times between referral, decision to treat and start of treatment could actually have an impact on the clinical outcomes. This means that the use of these survival measures to evaluate the targets would be misleading.ConclusionsBased on these individually-linked data, and for the cancers we looked at, we did not find that Cancer Waiting Time targets being met translates into improved one-year survival. Patients may benefit psychologically from limited waits which encourage timely treatment, but one-year survival is not a useful measure for evaluating Trust performance with regards to Cancer Waiting Time targets, which are not currently stratified by stage or treatment type. As such, the current composition of the data means target compliance needs further evaluation before being used for the assessment of clinical outcomes.

Details information on the waiting times for patients accessing cancer services at hospitals in Northern Ireland. This information reports on the performance of Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts against the ministerial targets (62 day, 31 day and 14 day) in Northern Ireland.

Annual Cancer Waiting Times statistics for urgently-referred patients by tumour site and NHS board, for Acute Leukaemia and Paediatric cancers.

To remain relevant to the changing set of targets, the quarterly Cancer Waiting Times Statistics published previously by ISD was replaced by the New Cancer Waiting Times Statistics in June 2010, which show a new series of figures. The Cancer Waiting Times' last quarterly release was in May 2010.

Source agency: ISD Scotland (part of NHS National Services Scotland)

Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Cancer Waiting Times

These reports provide information on the waiting times of people referred with suspected cancer or breast symptoms and subsequently told the outcome of their diagnosis, and treated for cancer by the NHS in England.

This dataset provides information on the waiting times of people referred by their GP (General Practitioner) with suspected cancer or breast symptoms and those subsequently diagnosed with and treated for cancer by the NHS (National Health Service) in England.

Cancer waiting times statistics Source agency: Health Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Commissioner Based Waiting Times Statistics for Suspected and Diagnosed Cancer Patients

The monthly publication has been indefinitely postponed due to resource issues. Quarterly cancer waiting times data continue to be published at http://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/ and the next cancer reports for quarter 2 and quarter 3 are due on 19 November 2014 and 18 February 2015 respectively. We will update users of any further developments via this publication calendar and on the NHS England statistics web site. Source agency: NHS England Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Cancer Waiting Times

This release gives details of the waiting times for patients accessing cancer services at hospitals in Northern Ireland. Source agency: Health, Social Service and Public Safety (Northern Ireland) Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Northern Ireland Cancer Waiting Times

Background: There are concerns about timely access to appropriate cancer treatment for the growing immigrant population in Norway. This study aims to compare waiting times between cancer diagnosis and start of cancer treatment, as well as treatment patterns between immigrants in Norway and the host population. Material and methods: We performed a nationwide, registry-based study with individual-level data, including 213,320 Norwegians and 8324 immigrants diagnosed with breast, colorectal, lung or prostate cancer in 1990–2014. Differences in time from diagnosis to treatment and in treatment patterns were described for the selected cancer sites. The Cox and logistic regressions were used to adjust for patient and tumour characteristics. Results: After adjustment for covariates, hazard ratios for time from diagnosis to treatment for non-Western immigrants compared to Norwegians were 0.88 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.82–0.95) for breast cancer and 0.84 (95% CI: 0.75–0.95) for lung cancer, indicating longer waiting times. Treatment patterns in the four major cancer sites were similar among immigrants and the Norwegian host population, except for breast cancer, where women from East and South Asia received less breast-conserving surgery than the Norwegian host population (adjusted odds ratios 0.65 (95% CI: 0.46–0.93) for East Asians and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.50–1.13) for South Asians). Conclusions: The present study reports delayed treatment for lung and breast cancer among immigrants from non-Western countries in Norway. Systematic differences in cancer treatment were not detected. However, less breast-conserving surgery among breast cancer patients from Asia compared to Norwegians was observed.

From February 2021, data is only published for the suspected cancer pathway. Targets for the urgent and not via the urgent pathway have ceased and no new data will be collected or published for these pathways. The patients shown here are those newly diagnosed with cancer who started definitive treatment via the Urgent Suspected Cancer route. The national target for these patients is: at least 95 per cent of patients diagnosed with cancer, via the urgent suspected cancer route will start definitive treatment within 62 days of receipt of referral. From 1st April 2019 health service provision for residents of Bridgend local authority moved from Abertawe Bro Morgannwg to Cwm Taf. For more information see the joint statement from Cwm Taf and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Boards (see weblinks). The health board names have changed with Cwm Taf University Health Board becoming Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board becoming Swansea Bay University Health Board. A link to the statement from the minister for health and social service can be found in the weblinks section.

The waiting time of people referred by their GP with suspected cancer or breast symptoms and those subsequently diagnosed with and treated for cancer, by London NHS hospital and Primary Care Trust (PCT). The data contains information on the numbers of people waiting for treatment and performance against a range of key operational standards. Source: Department of Health Cancer Waiting Times Database

This statistic displays the wait times for cancer surgery in Canada within the 90th percentile, by cancer site, from 2015 to 2024. In 2024, the colorectal surgery wait time in the country was 47 days for the 90th percentile. Long wait times can prevent sick patients from receiving timely health care services.

From February 2021, data is only published for the suspected cancer pathway. Targets for the urgent and not via the urgent pathway have ceased and no new data will be collected or published for these pathways. The patients shown here are those treated via the non urgent route. The national target for these patients is: at least 98 per cent of patients newly diagnosed with cancer, not via the urgent route will start definitive treatment within 31 days of diagnosis (regardless of the referral route). From 1st April 2019 health service provision for residents of Bridgend local authority moved from Abertawe Bro Morgannwg to Cwm Taf. For more information see the joint statement from Cwm Taf and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Boards (see weblinks). The health board names have changed with Cwm Taf University Health Board becoming Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board becoming Swansea Bay University Health Board. A link to the statement from the minister for health and social service can be found in the weblinks section.

In 2024, the clinically reasonable waiting time for a patient to receive treatment after an appointment with a specialist was *** weeks in Canada. However, the actual waiting time was 15 weeks. The discrepancy between clinically reasonable and actual wait times was highest in 2003, with *** weeks, and now recently in 2022 with *** weeks. The difference between actual and reasonable wait time varied by specialty, with urgent treatments and cancer therapy having the lowest wait times.