Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that the 62-day cancer waiting time target is met.

The National Health Service is meeting seven out of the eight cancer waiting times standards, despite a 91% increase in the number of urgent referrals for suspected cancer between 2009-10 and 2015-16. The NHS is also meeting the 62-day cancer waiting time standard for breast and skin cancers, which account for more than a third of referrals reported against this standard.

Achieving the 62-day standard is a key objective in the Government’s Mandate to NHS England for 2016-17. NHS England and NHS Improvement are providing support and challenge to those trusts that need to improve their performance against the standard.

Diagnostic waiting times are a key contributor to the 62-day standard. NHS England is making progress towards introducing a 28 days faster diagnosis standard for cancer patients. The standard is now being piloted at five test sites in preparation for national roll-out.