Nearly all NHS hospitals are missing cancer targets

BBC analysis shows almost every hospital in England is failing to meet the NHS’s key waiting time target for cancer treatment.

Only three of 121 trusts in England treat cancer patients quickly enough (within 62 days); Experts warn that delays could put lives at risk.

The government admitted waits were too long but said it was investing in the NHS to improve performance.

Research shows that starting treatment quickly is crucial, with every four-week delay reducing patient survival by an average of 10%.

Dr., one of the leading global experts on cancer, conducted the research. Timothy Hanna said the BBC’s findings were “worrying”.

“This is not a few outliers. It is the norm for trusts in England to fail to meet these waiting time targets and they are there for a reason; timely treatment can improve survival rates.”

Paul, who has stage three colon cancer, is one of many patients facing delays. His first biopsy was taken in January 2024 due to suspicion of cancer. Despite his best efforts, he did not receive any contact from cancer services until January this year. He finally had surgery on his colon in February.

Although his cancer had not spread to distant parts of the body, it had spread to nearby lymph nodes.

“The wait was terrible and now I think if I had been treated properly and didn’t have to wait so long I wouldn’t have progressed to stage three.”

He is expected to have surgery again next year.

Hospitals say demand for testing and care exceeds capacity.

The BBC was also told of cases where things went wrong, such as scanning and radiotherapy machines breaking down, GP referral letters being lost and staffing problems meaning appointments were canceled at the last minute.

BBC Verify looked at the performance of all major cancer services in England over the last 12 months, from September 2024 to August 2025.

There are goals for every stage of the cancer journey. Hospitals:

• Diagnose or rule out cancer in 75% of cases within 28 days of urgent referral
• In 96% of cases, treatment is started within the next 31 days
• Ensure the entire journey takes no more than 62 days in 85% of cases

Almost one in four trusts have missed all three targets in the last 12 months.

Some of the larger regional cancer centers say they are struggling with hereditary waits.

Larger hospitals that provide specialty services often transfer complex patients from smaller hospitals to them.

One service struggling with inherited waits is London’s Royal Free NHS Trust, which ranks 109th out of 121 when it comes to 62-day waits; but like many low-grade trusts, its performance improves.

It acts as a specialist kidney cancer center for patients in south-east England. Although it has some new equipment, including robotic surgery suites, management problems can cause operations to be cancelled. The day before the BBC filmed a report at the hospital, the hall was empty after a patient had not received a letter confirming surgery.

Radiotherapy is another area the Royal Free is looking to develop. One of its two machines is over 10 years old; From this age they need to be phased out because they become less efficient and less reliable.

Claire Hartill, head of radiotherapy at the Royal Free, said: “We are unable to provide the service we would like and this may cause delays in treating patients.

“We need a newer machine; it provides better treatment faster and means we can treat more people per hour.”

The foundation submitted a business plan to the government earlier this year to provide financing to purchase a new machine, but it was rejected.

There are only three cancer services that have reached the 62-day target in the last 12 months: Calderdale and Huddersfield, East and North Hertfordshire and Bolton NHS trusts.

Streamlined communication, state-of-the-art equipment, and unified teamwork seem crucial.

Paul, in his 50s, was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few weeks ago at Lister Hospital in Stevenage, part of East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust.

The same day he was told of the diagnosis, he also met with a surgeon and oncologist to discuss treatment options.

The choice of treatment was between a long course of radiotherapy or surgical removal of the prostate.

After deciding to have surgery, an appointment was made. The procedure will be performed using robotic surgery. It not only reduces side effects but also helps speed up recovery.

Paul will only be in hospital for one night, so the bed he is using will be available for another patient in just 24 hours.

“HE [the surgeon] He pulled out his diary, flipped through a few pages, and gave me a date. I said today is Saturday. The surgeon said yes, I work on Saturdays,” laughs Paul.

Further steps are being taken to alleviate capacity issues in the chemotherapy ward. A new initiative, one of the first in the UK, is allowing patients receiving certain types of chemotherapy to be taught how to carry out the treatment at home.

Josephine Hoskins is one of them. He needs chemotherapy injections every three weeks and lives between London and Devon. “This is revolutionary for me,” he said.

Taking patients like Josephine to ‘chemotherapy at home’ immediately opens up another avenue for someone who needs more complex treatment.

The government said it was committed to improving waiting times. A new cancer strategy is expected to be published by the government early next year. It comes after cancer was named a ‘key priority’ in the 10-year NHS plan published in July.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “Cancer treatment is a priority as we move past more than a decade of neglect by our NHS.

“We are working rapidly to ensure patients receive timely diagnosis and treatment – ​​building more community diagnostic centres, offering evening and weekend appointments and spending £70 million on new radiotherapy machines to give patients quicker access to the tests, checks and scans they need.”

But Sarah Scobie, of the Nuffield Trust health think tank, believes ministers will struggle to tackle the problems highlighted in the BBC analysis.

“The reality for the government is that it will be incredibly difficult to make meaningful progress on waiting times when finances are so tight.”

BBC News analyzed NHS England’s official cancer waiting time statistics covering the 12 months between September 2024 and August 2025.

The NHS publishes data monthly but we analyzed performance over the whole year.

We looked at performance against three national targets.

Trusts were ranked according to their performance over the 62-day measurement, which covers the entire waiting period between urgent referral and starting treatment.

Additional reporting by Jess Carr and Muskeen Liddar