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.
NHS England said the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard means trusts can shift focus from “simply getting a first appointment” to confirming or ruling out cancer faster.
Eight other cancer targets will be consolidated into two to simplify the system.
Currently, NHS trusts are asked to keep a maximum waiting time of 31 days from cancer diagnosis to first definitive treatment and a maximum 31 days for subsequent treatment when the treatment is surgery, a course of radiotherapy, or an anti-cancer drug regimen.
The four targets will be combined into one 31-day target from treatment decision to treatment.
Similarly, four 62-day targets will be collapsed into one: that patients who have been referred for suspected cancer from any source and go on to receive a diagnosis should start treatment within 62 days of their referral.
Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS, led the review of the standards and said in a press release: "The NHS is already catching more cancers at an earlier stage, when they are easier to treat, than ever before and the faster diagnosis standard will allow us to build on this excellent progress—it aims to ensure that patients get the all clear or a definitive diagnosis within 28 days.
“The updated ambitions will mean the NHS can be even more focused on outcomes for patients, rather than just appointment times and it’s yet another of example of the NHS bringing cancer care into the modern era of care.
“NHS staff are already embracing the best innovations for the benefit of patients and these streamlined measures support newer ways of testing and will allow us to continue to make the most of the latest advances in technology.”
Health minister Will Quince said NHS England has “delivered record numbers of cancer checks” and has “made significant progress” in cutting short the cancer waiting list.
The minister said the NHS will be expected to focus on meeting the new targets. He also said “a tougher ambition” will be introduced in the financial year starting in 2025 to require that 80 percent of cancer diagnoses be completed within 28 days.
The NHS said it’s investing 2.3 billion pounds to expand diagnostics services and 1.5 billion pounds for treatment over the coming years to meet the increasing demand for cancer services.
A breakdown of the figures show that of 141 NHS providers, less than half (68) have met the target in June, compared with 48 in April and 53 in May.
The current two-week target hasn’t been met either. Of the 261,006 suspected patients who were seen by a specialist in June, 80.5 percent had waited for two weeks or less for their first appointment, compared with 78 percent in April and 80.8 percent in May, well below the 93 percent target.
Cancer Research UK’s director of evidence and implementation, Naser Turabi, told the PA news agency that the change of targets will be “helpful” and “should set clearer expectations,” but he also said it won’t “address the systemic challenges that face cancer treatment and care.”
Commenting on the change on Aug. 14 before it got the final green light from the government, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused ministers of “shifting the goalposts” because they “can’t meet their own cancer targets.”
The Labour government in Wales and the SNP government in Scotland disputed that their NHS waiting lists are longer than those in England.
