Record High Waiting Lists Put Cancer Patient Lives At Risk – Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration

In early January 2022 there were nearly six million people in
England waiting for routine operations and treatment: a record
high. As health trusts are struggling to cope, the Health and
Social Care Select Committee described the backlog as an
‘unquantifiable challenge’.

Included in the six million are around half a million people
with a suspected cancer diagnosis.

The NHS has national targets across the board relating to the
timeframe within which patients receive care.

NHS England Targets

In cases of suspected cancer, the first benchmark target is for
GPs to refer their patients to a specialist consultant within 1
working day.

That specialist consultation should then take place within 2
weeks, known as the “2WW” (2 week wait) referral.

Once a decision has been made to treat cancer, patients should
receive their first treatment within 31 days from the date of that
decision.

Patients should receive their first treatment no later than 62
days after the first GP referral.

The Reality

Results of recent research show that the targets are not being
met and a record number of patients are waiting longer than the
target timeframes for cancer treatment.

We are all well aware of the knock-on effect of the COVID-19
pandemic on cancer treatment. Despite being classed as essential
treatment that was to continue during the pandemic, the reality of
the situation sadly led to long delays and a backlog of patients
waiting to receive and/or continue their cancer treatment.
Nonetheless, government figures state that cancer treatment was at
94% of pre-pandemic levels but acknowledge there were 34,000 fewer
cancer diagnoses in England from March 2020 – November 2021.

Patients are not just experiencing delays in the treatment stage
but also delays in being offered a first consultation with a
specialist. The percentage of patients who had attended a first
specialist appointment within 2 weeks of their GP’s referral
fell from 94.5% in January-March 2009 to 88.6% in the same period
of 2021. The first drop to levels below 90% occurred after early
2021.

Research published in the BMJ found that people whose cancer
treatment is delayed by even one month, have a 6-13% higher risk of
dying from their disease. This figure applies to several types of
cancer, including breast, lung and colon, no matter if the delayed
treatment is surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The entire
cancer care pathway needs to operate efficiently with targets for
both diagnosis and treatment times being met if patients are to be
afforded their best chance for successful treatment. The worry of
having a cancer diagnosis and the uncertainty of not knowing the
test results following a referral can only add more stress and
anxiety to a person’s mental health and wellbeing once they
have a suspected diagnosis. Any delays in addition to this must be
another layer of unnecessary stress and concern to the patient and
his or her family.

Legal storm brewing

Leading cancer specialists are warning that the NHS could face a
‘legal storm’ for compensation claims from patients whose
cancer has spread due to delays in diagnosis and treatment.
Professor Gary Middle, a cancer surgeon said, ‘I think the
likelihood is enormously high that potentially we’re sitting on
a legal minefield with this.’

Waiting list recovery plan

The government recently unveiled their plan for the NHS to
construct more than 100 community diagnosis centres in which teams
of specialists will provide a faster clinical service in an attempt
to address the record high waiting lists. New surgical hubs will
also be created, ensuring efficient use of resources and creating
extra capacity so patients are seen quickly.

The future

New targets have just been announced for a shorter period of
time between the first GP referral to a specialist and having a cancer diagnosis confirmed or rejected. The
aim is for this to happen within 28 days but the programme is due
to be implemented across England by 2024. We can only wait and see
if the current backlog of patients awaiting treatment is caught up
with in time for these new plans to be implemented or whether they
turn out to be too optimistic given the current state of
affairs.

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