Responding to the announcement by the Prime Minister of cancer
targets for the NHS, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers,
Saffron Cordery said:
“Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister brings a helpful and
renewed focus on cancer services.
“They reiterate important changes in performance standards for
cancer care first put forward by NHS England prior to the
pandemic, and following broad consultation with the sector.
“Trust leaders are acutely aware of the disruption and distress
many patients have faced in accessing timely cancer diagnoses and
treatment because of a range of factors relating to the COVID-19
pandemic.
“Progress is being made. In recent months we’ve seen significant
strides to ramp up cancer care, with a record number of
urgent cancer referrals in November, and diagnostic activity at
the highest level since before the pandemic took hold.
“Recent announcements on the rollout of over 100 community
diagnostic centres and extra surgical hubs will also help
trusts get through their delays in cancer care and to treat and
prioritise patients as quickly as possible.
“Trusts are committed to doing everything they can to bear down
on care backlogs across all services but we need to have the
staff in place to achieve that.
“Ramping up our response to cancer will require more trained
staff however. Workforce shortages and the resulting
unsustainable workloads on existing staff, are the biggest
challenges facing trusts right now. We need national action to
tackle this now."
