Patients will be offered faster tests for cancer at any hospital in their local area in a bid by Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting to cut NHS waiting times before the next election.
The National Cancer Plan, being published on Wednesday, will commit the Government to meeting all three NHS cancer targets in England for treatment of the disease by March 2029 – two months before the likely date of the general election.
It will also pledge that three in four people with cancer will be either cured or “living well” with the disease within five years of diagnosis by 2035 – which the Government says will save 320,000 lives over the next decade.
Some 60 per cent of patients currently survive for five years or more and around 2.4 million people are currently living after a cancer diagnosis.
Under one existing NHS target, 75 per cent of patients should either have cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days of a referral by a GP.
While this target is already being met, ministers want to speed up diagnosis for more patients so they can be treated faster if necessary.
Patients are normally referred to a specialist clinic at their local hospital, but the new scheme will mean they are offered the earliest possible appointments at other hospitals in their region.
The pledge to meet all three NHS cancer targets by March 2029 is a political gamble as it will be so close to the start of the expected general election campaign – meaning Labour’s opponents would be able to accuse the party of broken promises on the key issue of health if the commitment is not achieved.
While the 28-day diagnosis target is already being met, two other targets related to cancer treatment have been missed for years, and it will be a huge challenge for the NHS to close the gap by spring 2029.
Latest figures for November 2025 show the 62-day referral to treatment target – under which 85 per cent of patients should have received their diagnoses and started first treatment within two months of an urgent referral – has been missed.
Only 70.2 per cent of patients were seen in this time and the 85 per cent figure has not been met since December 2015.
The third target – where people start treatment for cancer within 31 days of doctors deciding a treatment plan – has also been missed. The target is 96 per cent but the current rate is 91.7 per cent.
The National Cancer Plan will set out a range of measures to meet the two new pledges, including faster diagnostics, funded by £2.3 billion of investment to pay for 9.5 million additional tests by 2029, more scanners, digital technology and automated testing.
It will also introduce a massive expansion in robot-assisted surgery for cancer operations, as well as other NHS procedures, from 70,000 to half a million by 2035.
Every patient who could benefit will be offered a test that analyses the DNA of their cancer, which will help doctors understand exactly the type of cancer they have and how treatments can be personalised for them.
The Health Secretary said: “Cancer survival shouldn’t come down to who won the lottery of life. But cancer is more likely to be a death sentence in Britain than other countries around the world.
“As a cancer survivor who owes my life to the NHS, I owe it to future patients to make sure they receive the same outstanding care I did.
“Thanks to the revolution in medical science and technology, we have the opportunity to transform the life chances of cancer patients.
“Our cancer plan will invest in and modernise the NHS, so that opportunity can be seized and our ambitions realised.”
Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “Across England, too many cancer patients are waiting too long to start treatment, so it’s important that the UK Government has committed to meeting cancer waiting time targets by 2029. A wide range of measures will be needed for these to be met.”
But Sarah Scobie, deputy director of research at the Nuffield Trust, said while the plan’s ambition was welcome, “the NHS will still find them incredibly difficult to meet based on current performance”.
Your next read
square BENEFIT CAP Exclusive60,000 families will be hit by second benefit limit after two-child cap axed
square BY-ELECTION ExclusiveOperation stop Farage: New tactical voting plan for Starmer’s critical by-election
square POLITICSPolice investigate Mandelson after No 10 hands over Epstein dossier
square POLITICS radio_button_checked LIVEPolice looking at claim second woman was sent to UK by Epstein for sex with Andrew
She added: “Between April and November last year, there was only a 0.1 per cent improvement in the proportion of patients waiting under 62 days to start cancer treatment.
“To meet the government’s target of 85 per cent starting treatment within this timeframe by March 2029, we’d need to see improvements of almost 0.4 per cent every single month.
“That would mean the NHS improving at 30 times the rate it has managed since April. This would be an enormous feat to maintain, and we are still awaiting details on how it would be funded.”
Hence then, the article about faster cancer tests at local hospital of your choice to slash treatment waits was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Faster cancer tests at local hospital of your choice to slash treatment waits )
Also on site :
- Punk Legend Hospitalized After Stroke
- 15 Best Sitcom Couples Of All Time, Ranked
- Kansas City Life Announces Fourth Quarter 2025 Results