'My cancer spread while I waited months for surgery': The cost of England's cancer wait times

Alan is one of thousands each month who are not being treated within the cancer target timeframe Alan was diagnosed with lung cancer after a nodule was found in June last year. The 70-year-old was meant to be operated on within weeks but ended up waiting nearly five months, , making his surgery more complex. "I was so frustrated and angry and couldn't understand why they would leave me like that," says Alan. On two occasions, scans were cancelled because machines had broken and for weeks he heard little or nothing from the hospital about when he would eventually have the urgent surgery. Alan is one of thousands each month in England who are not being treated within the target timeframe. Earlier this year, the government's National Cancer Plan, along with the NHS Planning Guidance, set out that 80% of patients in England would start treatment within 62 days from urgent GP referral by March 2027. This was to reach 85% by March 2027. But in the months since the government announced this ambition, performance has got worse, according to NHS England data, not better. Now, 69.9% of patients start cancer treatment within the 62 day timeframe. Prof Pat Price, a leading UK clinical academic oncologist, says the government targets "are now simply impossible to hit", after what she describes as a "complete loss of momentum". Price attributes the current failures to a "complete lack of a plan or accountability". The plan stated that a new independent cancer board would be established, but it is still not known who will be leading this group. Radiotherapy UK analysis, shared exclusively with the BBC, suggests more than 3,000 extra patients would need to start treatment every month - a near 15% increase on current numbers - to achieve the March 2027 target. That is likely to grow as referrals keep rising across nearly every cancer type. Price says thousands of patients "are going to die unnecessarily, just because the government can't get their act together to treat people on time". For every month a cancer patient waits before starting treatment, their chance of survival falls by around 10%. , the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes and the nodule "had grown at an alarming rate", according to the lung specialist. He has since been told the cancer has cleared awaiting his one-year review, but the operation has left him in debilitating pain. "I used to play golf and get out and about. Now I can't do any of the things I love," says Alan.