Dear Constituent,

Thank you for your correspondence regarding waiting times for cancer treatment.

I doubt there is a single family across the country that has not been affected by cancer, and mine is no exception.

The Government is investing £8 billion to reduce the cancer care backlog that built up during the pandemic. Ministers tell me this will help deliver nine million checks, scans, and operations by 2025, as well as expanding the number of surgical hubs across the country.

£2.3 billion has been committed to expand Community Diagnostic Centres, which will offer rapid access to clinical tests and life-saving checks closer to home. These centres have already delivered over 3.8 million additional checks and tests and are playing an important role in helping to reduce waiting times.

The Government accepted the recommendations from a review led by the National Medical Director of NHS England to revise the standards that trusts are expected to meet to deliver effective cancer care.

Developed in consultation with clinical experts and supported by leading cancer charities, three cancer standards will be introduced, combining all of the previous standards and covering additional patients.

Shifting the focus from appointments themselves to the outcomes they can deliver will help patients get the treatment they may need at an earlier stage, improving their chances of recovery and helping them make better informed choices.

By making sure more patients are diagnosed and treated as early as possible following a referral and replacing the outdated two-week wait target with the faster diagnosis standard already being used across the country, hundreds of patients waiting to have cancer ruled out or diagnosed could receive this news faster. 

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Yours,

EDWARD LEIGH MP