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Damning new data has revealed Royal Berkshire Hospital’s repeated failure to meet waiting time targets for some of the deadliest forms of cancer.
Wokingham MP Clive Jones has written a letter to the secretary of state for health with recommendations for the national cancer plan to help fix this crisis, based on issues that arose during discussions with key professionals in cancer care, including cancer charities, patient advocacy groups, and life science companies.
Recent data from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request on cancer waiting times has made clear that the local NHS is failing to reach the national standard of patients waiting no more than 62 days from urgent referral to beginning treatment.
The FOI has uncovered that patients diagnosed with some of the six deadliest cancers, including lung, pancreatic, stomach, liver, brain and oesophageal cancer, are facing severe delays in starting life-saving treatment.
In 2024 alone, less than 30% of stomach cancer patients, 42% of those with pancreatic cancer, and just 31% of oesophageal cancer patients waited 62 days or less from referral to treatment — far below the NHS’s target of 85%.
The figures also show that some patients were left waiting more than four months —
and in extreme cases, over six months — for treatment to begin.
One lung cancer patient at the RBH waited at least 174 days, while others with liver and pancreatic cancer have waited over 100 days.
The data paints a worsening picture over time. For example, the proportion of patients with liver cancer waiting over 62 days surged to 80% in 2024, up from just 25% in 2019.
A cancer campaigner and cancer survivor himself, Clive’s letter details a number of
recommendations to ensure the national cancer plan is as effective as possible. These include a binding target to begin treatment after a referral within 62-days, targeted screening for prostate cancer and sustainable capital funding for radiotherapy machines.
Clive said: “This data is disastrous for local people, that is why I have written to the secretary of state to go into detail on the key issues I have discussed with the cancer
community – the people on the front lines who have the best experience of what needs to change.
“The delays at Royal Berks are not just unacceptable, they’re dangerous, and they reflect a wider national failure.
“This is not the fault of hardworking NHS staff, who are doing their best under immense pressure — it’s a failure of the previous Conservative government who let it get this bad.
“The government must act now. Patients deserve answers, action, and above all, timely treatment.
“I’ll keep pressing the government to deliver a national cancer plan that actually tackles this crisis — and to get our local NHS the support and investment it urgently needs.”
