Almost all NHS trusts are missing a major cancer target, with some of the worst performing trusts seeing only around half of patients on time, leaving some waiting for more than 100 days.
The NHS has a long-standing target for 85 per cent of patients to wait no more than 62 days from their cancer referral being received to starting treatment – but this target has not been met on a national level since 2014.
The government’s 10-year plan aims to turn around cancer services in England, which includes a pledge to hit all NHS cancer waiting time targets by 2029 and give more patients access to cutting-edge treatments, such as robot-assisted surgery and genomic testing.
An interim target of March 2026 for 75 per cent of patients to wait no more than 62 days for treatment has also been set under the plan.
But this was only managed by around a quarter of trusts (33 of 119) in 2025 – although this is up slightly from 29 trusts in 2024.
About one in ten NHS hospital trusts (12 of 199) failed to offer 40 per cent of their patients cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral in 2025.
Only one trust was below 50 per cent in 2025 – Mid & South Essex, on 45.4 per cent – while two were under 50 per cent in 2024: Guy’s & St Thomas’ (47.7 per cent) and Mid & South Essex (47.0 per cent).
The new analysis of NHS England figures shows just three of 119 acute trusts with comparable data hit or surpassed the 85 per cent target last year, Calderdale and Huddersfield (89.2 per cent of patients), Homerton Healthcare (85.8 per cent) and Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells (85.7 per cent) all hit the target.
More people than ever are surviving cancer, and death rates have decreased by 22 per cent in the past 50 years, but diagnoses ballooned to more than 354,820 in 2023, compared to 327,174 before the pandemic, as early diagnosis improves and treatment options have increased.
While more people than ever are being diagnosed, fewer are being treated within the government’s target, with 100,000 waiting longer in 2025, analysis of NHS data by Cancer Research UK for The Independent shows.
Doctors say the delays mean some patients’ cancer has progressed to later stages by the time they are seen, which means they often need additional or more invasive treatments, piling further pressure on services.
Analysis of NHS data also shows in some trusts, about one in seven patients who began cancer treatment in December 2025 had been waiting more than 104 days since an urgent referral.
At University Hospitals of Leicester, 13.7 per cent of patients starting treatment in December had waited this long, as well as 14.5 per cent of patients at Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, 14.9 per cent at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and 15.5 per cent at Guy’s and St Thomas’.
The proportion was as high as one in six patients at Hull University Teaching Hospitals (16.5 per cent) and Mid and South Essex (17.0 per cent).
An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS is seeing and treating record numbers of patients for cancer, with more than three quarters of people receiving a diagnosis or all clear within four weeks, but there are still too many people experiencing unacceptably long waits for their first treatment.
“Our landmark National Cancer Plan sets out a clear roadmap to ensuring we are meeting all three cancer standards to see and treat patients on time over the next three years, with further improvements to make care more personalised and significantly improve survival.”
The list reads, from left to right: name of NHS trust; percentage of patients in 2025 who began their first treatment for cancer within 62 days of an urgent referral; percentage (in brackets) in 2024 who began their first treatment within 62 days.
