Nearly all NHS trusts failing to hit cancer target

"It's not a few outliers. It's the norm for trusts in England to not hit these waiting time targets and they are set for a reason - timely treatment can improve survival rates."

Paul, who has stage three colon cancer, is one of many patients who has faced delays. His first biopsy was taken in January 2024 when cancer was suspected.

He did not receive any further contact from his cancer services, despite his best efforts, until January this year. He eventually had surgery on his colon in February.

“The waiting was horrendous and now I think that if I had been treated properly and not had to wait so long it wouldn't have progressed to stage three,” Paul said.

He is due to have further surgery next year.

Claire Hartill, head of radiotherapy at the Royal Free, said: "We can't deliver the service we want to and it can cause delays to patient treatment.

"We need a newer machine – it delivers better treatment faster so means we can treat more people per hour."

The trust submitted a business plan to the government earlier this year for funding to buy a new machine, but was turned down.

There are just three cancer services that are achieving the 62-day target over the past 12 months - Calderdale and Huddersfield, East and North Hertfordshire and Bolton NHS trusts.

Streamlined communication, state-of-the-art equipment and joined-up team work appear to be key.

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

On the day he was told his diagnosis he also met with a surgeon and an oncologist to discuss his treatment options.

His treatment choice was between a long course of radiotherapy or to have the prostate surgically removed.

Once he had made up his mind to have an operation, it was booked in. His procedure will be done 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 uses will be free for another patient after only 24 hours.

"He [the surgeon] got his diary out, flicked through a couple of pages and gave me a date. I said, that's a Saturday. The surgeon said, yes, I work Saturdays," laughs Paul.

Over in the chemotherapy ward there are more steps being taken to ease capacity issues. A new initiative - one of the first in England - is allowing patients on certain types of chemotherapy to be taught how to do the treatment for themselves at home.

Josephine Hoskins is one of them. She has to have chemotherapy injections every three weeks and lives between London and Devon. "It's revolutionised things for me," she said.

Moving patients like Josephine to 'at-home chemo' immediately opens up another slot for someone that needs more complex treatment.