NHS hits 28-day reduction in cancer diagnosis target for second month in a row
The NHS has announced that it has achieved its targets for the second consecutive month to reduce cancer diagnoses by 28 days and speed up ambulance response to calls compared to March 2024.
The announcement provides targeted support for NHS trusts to reduce variation across the country, speed up patient diagnosis, and eliminate backlogs of patients waiting for diagnosis and treatment due to the coronavirus pandemic. Based on national support.
The number of patients waiting more than 62 days for treatment is now the lowest since the end of April 2020, and down almost 20,000 from the post-pandemic peak, according to newly released data.
Additionally, nearly 77% of those referred or tested receive a confirmed diagnosis or are cleared within four weeks, meeting the national goal of 75% by April 2023 to March 2024. I surpassed it.
In addition, the new data also reveals that April was the busiest April ever, with more than 2 million A&E attendances and more than 540,000 admissions, and that almost 75% of people were hospitalized. were discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours, the first increase since April 2023.
Ambulance response times have also improved over the last month, with the most urgent Category 1 cases now 10 seconds faster than in March and the fastest since April last year. Meanwhile, his response time for Category 2 calls was almost three and a half minutes faster in April compared to March. .
In March alone, the NHS provided more than one million treatments, and between April 2023 and March 2024, the NHS provided around 17.5 million appointments and procedures. This is an increase of almost 250,000 cases in the 12 months before the pandemic.
Dame Carey Palmer, NHS England’s national director of cancer, said: “These figures show that the NHS has made significant progress in tackling the issue of longest wait times for cancer patients. .
“We remain focused on vital screening programs and targeted testing to detect cancer early and ensure people get the specialized services and treatment they need quickly.” Palmer added.
