Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department have taken to improve NHS urgent referral delays to ensure that cancer patients do not have to wait more than 62 days to start treatment in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

The Government is committed to ensuring that cancer patients receive timely diagnosis and treatment and to meeting all National Health Service cancer waiting time standards, including the 62-day referral to treatment standard.

NHS England continues to work with integrated care boards, Cancer Alliances, and providers to improve performance against the 62-day referral to treatment standard in all parts of England, including the areas serving patients in Harpenden and Berkhamsted. This includes targeted support for providers facing the greatest challenges in meeting the 62-day referral to treatment standard such as strengthening delivery plans, improving diagnostic and treatment pathways, and reducing delays between referral, diagnosis, and treatment.

The Government is also supporting the wider transformation of cancer services through measures set out in the National Cancer Plan, including expanding diagnostic capacity, increasing access to community diagnostic centres, rolling out straight-to-test and one-stop models where appropriate, alongside improvements to services such as histopathology. In addition, the Government is investing in modern radiotherapy equipment, including a £70 million programme to replace and upgrade radiotherapy machines across England, helping to increase treatment capacity and support patients to begin treatment more quickly once a diagnosis has been made.

These actions are intended to help ensure that patients begin treatment sooner and support improved cancer waiting time performance across England, including in Harpenden and Berkhamsted.