Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many cancer patients received radiotherapy treatment within the 62-day referral to treatment target; and what steps they are taking to reduce waiting times for patients who have been diagnosed with cancer and are waiting for treatment.

Between May 2022 and April 2023, 9,333 patients received radiotherapy treatment on the Urgent Suspected Cancer pathway, of which 2,402 were treated within 62 days.

The Government worked with NHS England to publish the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care in February 2022. The Government also plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.

This will further be supported by the additional £3.3 billion of funding in each of the next two years announced at the Autumn Statement to support the National Health Service, enabling rapid action to improve emergency, elective and primary care performance towards pre-pandemic levels.

NHS England’s recent letter ‘Elective care 2023/24 Priorities’ set out the progress to date in reducing the number of patients with urgent suspected cancer waiting longer than 62 days and meeting the faster diagnosis standard for the first time in February. It also confirmed the ongoing priorities to make further progress to improve performance and long waits, prioritise diagnostic capacity and focus on cancer pathway redesign.