NHS to Drop 2-Week Target for 1st Cancer Appointments

A highly complex robotic cancer operation to remove a tumor of the esophagus at the junction between the heart, lungs, and aorta, by lead surgeon Asif Chaudry and colleague surgeon Myles Smith with patient Charles Ludlow, 63, during his visit to The Royal Marsden Hospital in London on Jan. 10, 2018. Daniel Leal-Olivas - WPA Pool/Getty Images

The target of seeing most suspected cancer patients within two weeks will be scrapped in October as NHS England consolidates its 10 cancer targets into three.

Trusts will be asked to hand out diagnoses to 75 percent of patients with suspected cancer within four weeks instead of seeing 93 percent of them within two weeks.