• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Cancer Waiting Times Pledge

Posted on: Saturday, 3 December 2005, 06:00 CST

HEALTH chiefs were yesterday urged to cut waiting times for cancer treatment.

The demand from Health Minister Andy Kerr came as the latest government figures revealed some delays were on the up.

They showed breast cancer treatment within two months of referral dropped from 86.3 per cent at the start of the year to 85.9 per cent between April and June.

It was the same with lung cancer, where the target slipped from 71.8 to 70.4 per cent.

But the situation improved on waiting times for colorectal, ovarian and melanoma cancers.

Lymphoma cases, published for the first time, stood at 57.6 per cent and on average, just under three in four - 74.3 per cent - of cancer cases hit the target.

The Executive vowed no patient would have to wait more than two months for treatment by the end of 2005 but Kerr admitted this now looked unlikely.

He said: "We must reduce waiting times. We set our target for the end of2005to be a big challenge for the NHS and have always recognised it will be difficult to meet.

"The figures show the health boards had made limited progress between Apriland June,""They also show the amount of work boards need to undertake before the end of the year."

The Executive have invested pounds 150million in cancer services since 2001.

Meanwhile, scientists yesterday said they had moved a step closer to finding a cure for prostate cancer.

The Yorkshire Cancer Research Unit experts are the first in the world to extract stem cells from prostate cancers

Source: Daily Record; Glasgow (UK)

More News in this Category