NHS 'committed' to improving Shropshire bowel cancer waiting times with targets missed

Patients at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) hospitals are currently facing average waiting times of more than two months from the time they are referred from a GP to when they are seen by a cancer specialist.

Nationally, 85 per cent of all cancer patients should be seen with 62 days, but that target has not been met since 2015, with only 59 per cent of all patients in England and Wales being seen within the timeframe.

At SaTH (Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust), recent figures show just 48.5 per cent of patients are seen within the 62-day target, and among patients awaiting for treatment are those diagnosed with bowel cancer, the third-highest cause of cancer deaths in the UK.

One patient, who does not want to be named, said they were left waiting for more than ten weeks for an appointment at SaTH and then a further three to four weeks before treatment actually started.

Dr Nick White, chief medical officer for NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said they were "committed" to getting the bowel cancer treatment waiting times down.

He said: “Both NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) are committed to improving our waiting times for diagnostics and treatment across all cancer pathways for local residents.

“We are working hard to create additional capacity across the system, including recently securing additional endoscopy capacity at our acute hospital sites, which will help to improve waiting times.

“For diagnosis, the latest Faster Diagnosis Standards data for July showed that 55.9 per cent of lower gastrointestinal cases were diagnosed within 28 days, which is an improving figure. This compares to a national position of 58.4 per cent.”