NHS Cancer Treatment Delays Exposed: Worst-Performing Trusts Revealed

The National Health Service has consistently failed to meet its national cancer treatment target since 2014, with new data revealing that almost all NHS trusts are missing a major cancer performance benchmark. The analysis shows that some of the worst-performing trusts are seeing only around half of their patients within the required timeframe, leaving individuals waiting for more than 100 days for critical treatment.

National Targets and Persistent Shortfalls

The NHS has a long-standing target for 85 percent of patients to wait no more than 62 days from their urgent cancer referral being received to starting treatment. However, this target has not been met on a national level for over a decade. The government's 10-year cancer plan aims to transform services in England, including a pledge to hit all NHS cancer waiting time targets by 2029 and provide more patients with access to advanced treatments like robot-assisted surgery and genomic testing.

An interim target of March 2026 for 75 percent of patients to wait no more than 62 days for treatment has also been established under this plan. Yet, in 2025, only about a quarter of trusts—33 out of 119—managed to achieve this, a slight increase from 29 trusts in 2024.

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Trust Performance Breakdown

Approximately one in ten NHS hospital trusts—12 out of 199—failed to offer 40 percent of their patients cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral in 2025. Only one trust fell below 50 percent in 2025: Mid & South Essex, at 45.4 percent. In 2024, two trusts were under 50 percent: Guy's & St Thomas' at 47.7 percent and Mid & South Essex at 47.0 percent.

The new analysis of NHS England figures indicates that just three of 119 acute trusts with comparable data hit or surpassed the 85 percent target last year. Calderdale and Huddersfield achieved 89.2 percent, Homerton Healthcare reached 85.8 percent, and Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells attained 85.7 percent.

Rising Diagnoses and Treatment Delays

While more people than ever are surviving cancer, with death rates decreasing by 22 percent over the past 50 years, diagnoses have surged to over 354,820 in 2023, up from 327,174 before the pandemic. This increase is partly due to improved early diagnosis and expanded treatment options. However, fewer patients are being treated within the government's target timeframe. Analysis by Cancer Research UK for The Independent shows that 100,000 people waited longer in 2025.

Doctors warn that these delays mean some patients' cancer progresses to later stages by the time they are seen, often necessitating additional or more invasive treatments. This situation places further pressure on already strained services.

Extended Waiting Times in Specific Trusts

Analysis of NHS data also reveals that 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 percent of patients starting treatment in December had waited this long, while 14.5 percent at Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn, 14.9 percent at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, and 15.5 percent at Guy's and St Thomas' experienced similar delays.

The proportion was as high as one in six patients at Hull University Teaching Hospitals (16.5 percent) and Mid and South Essex (17.0 percent).

NHS Response and Future Plans

An NHS spokesman stated: "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."

Trust Performance List

The following list details NHS trusts, showing the percentage of patients in 2025 who began their first treatment for cancer within 62 days of an urgent referral, with the 2024 percentage in brackets: