Britain's National Health Service is facing what experts describe as a 'total disgrace' in cancer care, with damning new figures revealing that just two out of 135 healthcare providers have met all three key cancer targets so far in 2025.
The Scale of the Crisis
Official NHS statistics analysed by the Daily Mail show a healthcare system in crisis, with the Mid and South Essex Trust failing to hit any of the three crucial cancer care targets between January and August this year. The findings have prompted charities, medical experts and MPs to demand immediate action, describing the situation as a 'national emergency'.
World-renowned oncologist Professor Karol Sikora, former World Health Organization cancer chief, didn't mince his words when confronted with the data. 'This is a total disgrace,' he told the Mail. 'All we get are ridiculous press releases about new ways of using old drugs and very expensive new therapies. But the reality is that people are dying because of constant delays in getting to the front of the queue. In the US they'd sue.'
The Three Failed Targets
The NHS has established three separate benchmarks for timely cancer diagnosis and treatment, yet all are being missed across England:
The 28-day target: 75% of patients should be diagnosed or have disease ruled out within 28 days of urgent referral (actual performance: 74.6% in August)
The 31-day target: 96% of diagnosed patients should start treatment within 31 days of doctors deciding a treatment plan (actual performance: 91.6% in August)
The 62-day target: 85% of patients should be diagnosed and start treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral (actual performance: 69.1% in August)
Alarmingly, the 31 and 62-day cancer targets haven't been met nationally since April 2021, highlighting a systemic problem that predates the current crisis.
International Comparisons and Consequences
Professor Sikora highlighted the stark contrast with other healthcare systems: 'A two-month wait as a target is ridiculously long and that's not even being met as you can see. Even in Poland, the target from diagnosis to treatment is seven days.'
The consequences of these delays are particularly devastating for patients with less survivable cancers. Cameron Miller, deputy chair of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, explained: 'Any delay in cancer treatment can be distressing, but for the more than 90,000 people diagnosed each year in the UK with a less survivable cancer – those of the brain, liver, lung, oesophagus, pancreas and stomach – lost time can be devastating.'
A 2024 study by the Taskforce revealed that five-year survival rates for six different cancer types stand at just 16%. The analysis calculated that if UK patients received treatment in high-performing healthcare systems like Korea, Belgium, Australia or China, approximately 8,000 lives could be saved annually.
Worst Performing Trusts and Glimmers of Hope
The investigation, using monthly statistics from NHS England, included private sites carrying out NHS work and excluded providers who reported fewer than six months of statistics.
On the 31-day target, 30 sites managed to hit that goal every month in 2025, but one third haven't reached it at all. Liverpool Women's Foundation Trust recorded the worst performance with just 55.2% in January.
Six providers – Mid and South Essex, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole, Royal United Bath, Queen Elizabeth King's Lynn, Warrington and Halton and York and Scarborough – missed the 28-day target every month this year. Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust achieved the lowest one-month score across any provider with just 40.9% in August.
The 62-day target saw the most widespread failures, with 108 trusts missing the target every month and only three hitting it consistently. The Royal Papworth Hospital Trust achieved a shockingly low 17.5% on that target in January – the worst figure in England across the entire year.
Amid the widespread failures, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust and The Walton Centre, a specialist treatment centre in Liverpool, emerged as the only two providers to have met all three targets each month in 2025.
Root Causes and Political Response
Charities point to a perfect storm of declining staff numbers, COVID-19 pandemic knock-on effects and industrial action as contributing factors. The backlog grew rapidly during the pandemic as routine services were disrupted by efforts to control the virus.
Helen Morgan, Lib Dem health spokesperson, emphasised the human cost: 'Receiving a cancer diagnosis is one of the most terrifying moments of anyone's life. Long waits for cancer patients can be the difference between life and death.'
Despite the performance slump, NHS bosses argue they are seeing more patients than ever in the fight against cancer. Urgent referrals have doubled in a decade, largely due to government awareness campaigns encouraging patients to come forward with suspected symptoms.
The Department of Health and Social Care responded: 'We are prioritising cancer care as we turn around more than a decade of neglect of the NHS. We're expanding diagnostic services thanks to a £2.3billion investment, building more surgical hubs and offering evening and weekend appointments.'
An NHS England spokesperson added: 'While overall data shows that hard-working staff have helped the NHS meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard in the majority of months this year, it is clear we have much further to go to ensure everyone gets high-quality and timely care.'
With around one in two people expected to be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives according to Cancer Research UK, the resolution of this crisis represents one of the most pressing challenges facing Britain's healthcare system.
