Baroness Redfern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-09-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many cancer referrals in England were not made within the two week waiting time target for each of the last three years.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
The Handbook to the NHS Constitution, which is attached, sets out the right for patients to be seen by a cancer specialist within a maximum of two weeks from general practitioner (GP) referral for urgent referrals where cancer is suspected. The operational standard is that 93% of patients should wait less than two weeks from GP urgent referral to first consultant appointment. This standard has been met in each of the last three years.
The information for how many patients waited more than two weeks from GP urgent referral to first consultant appointment is shown in the table below.
Table: Two week wait from GP urgent referral to first consultant appointment, in England, 2013/14 to 2015/16
|
Year |
Number of patients that waited less than two weeks to be seen |
Number of patients that waited more than two weeks to be seen |
Total number of patients referred |
Performance against the standard |
|
2013/14 |
1,297,849 |
63,496 |
1,361,345 |
95.3% |
|
2014/15 |
1,459,084 |
90,610 |
1,549,694 |
94.2% |
|
2015/16 |
1,624,981 |
101,140 |
1,726,121 |
94.1% |
Source: Cancer waiting times quarterly time series, NHS England
