Health chiefs in Peterborough say recovery plans in place to reduce treatment waiting time for cancer patients

Health chiefs in Peterborough say they have drawn up recovery plans in a bid to cut the length of time some patients are waiting for treatment at the region’s hospitals.

They say that while demand for services has risen, hospital staff are seeing a drop in the overall number of patients waiting more than two months to start their cancer treatment and measures have been taken to prioritise those patients most in need of other treatments.

Their comments come after figures released by NHS England revealed that just 54 per cent of cancer patients start treatment at Peterborough and Stamford hospitals within the NHS target time of two months.

The NHS also expects that at least 85 per cent of cancer patients will start hospital treatment within two months.

Michelle Cady, Chief Operating Officer at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Peterborough City, Stamford and Rutland Hospital and Hinchingbrooke Hospital, said: “We closely monitor waiting times for all of our services, including those for cancer patients.

"Most NHS hospitals are currently working through intensive recovery plans following the impact of the pandemic and recent industrial action on their waiting lists.

"We have also been experiencing increased demand for some services, particularly diagnostic testing.

“We have recently made some positive improvements in the overall number of patients waiting more than two months to start their cancer treatment.

"There are recovery plans in place for 2023/24 to make sure that we deliver further improvements in waiting times for all of our patients and we have systems in place to prioritise the most urgent treatment needs.

“Last year we saw 592,000 patients as outpatients, in addition to this we did 56,000 operations and 434,000 imaging diagnostic tests.

"Our recovery plans for this year include improvements across all of these areas, which we know are so important for our patients and the communities we serve.”

Other NHS England data show 75,646 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at the trust’s hospitals at the end of March – up from 73,773 in February. 12,314 patients were waiting for one of 12 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy in March.