Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what strategy his Department has for ensuring the 62-day cancer waiting times target for first treatment is met.

The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out the ambition for the number of people waiting more than 62 days from an urgent referral for cancer to return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. The Department has committed an additional £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and the £700 million targeted Investment Fund already made available to the system.

This investment will allow up to 160 new community diagnostic centres (CDC) to deliver additional, digitally connected, diagnostic capacity in England, providing patients with a coordinated set of diagnostic checks, including for cancer. CDCs and the associated re-design of the cancer pathway will reduce waiting times from presentation to diagnosis and the number of interactions required to receive a diagnosis. NHS England is also working with National Health Service trusts to develop bespoke support to improve waiting times.