The east of England is the second worst region for backlogs in cancer referrals, new statistics reveal.

13.3% of patients are waiting more than 62 days for an urgent cancer referral on the Two-Week Wait (2ww) appointment system.

This places the region as the second worst performing region in the country - just 1% above the Midlands as the worst and 4.5% below the South East as the best.

The two week wait referral system is meant to allow a patient with symptoms that may indicate an underlying cancer to be seen as quickly as possible.

Those patients waiting more than 62 days are almost seven weeks past the target waiting time.

In a letter sent in July, NHS regional director Clare Panniker implored Integrated Care Board (ICB) chief executives to make the reduction of the 62-day backlog for cancer patients a priority.

At the time of writing, she noted that 4,614 patients were waiting for more than 62 days, which is the highest number ever recorded and a figure that is still increasing.

Ms Panniker detailed that cancer services across the east of England are seeing record levels of referrals - exceeding pre-pandemic levels at 112%.

She added: "We all recognise the current challenges in cancer services, and our current cancer performance for 62-day backlog reductions remains concerning."

Ms Panniker stressed that, while backlogs were being tackled, it was important to provide patients with potential harm reviews, appropriate communication and safe transfer to onward pathways.

She also requested that by Wednesday, August 31, each ICB should provide:

  1. A clear trajectory of their anticipated position, month by month from July 2022 to March 2023
  2. A copy of current detailed improvement plans that demonstrate how they will make progress in reducing the backlog position
  3. And a determination of what is required to achieve these improvements.

Deputy chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust Neill Moloney said: "Our teams continue to work extremely hard to improve our overall cancer performance.

"We have a detailed cancer recovery action plan in place. This includes increasing diagnostic capacity, running additional clinic lists and working with our primary care colleagues to make sure all pre-referral diagnostics are completed for more effective and speedier triage.

"We have also appointed a pre-diagnosis clinical nurse specialist to support patients who may not be able to move quickly through a cancer pathway."

Nicola Cottington, chief operating officer at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said alongside working with partners to improve pathways it has allocated addition resources to areas with the longest waits to improve the speed at which patients receive their results.

She added: "Our staff continue to work hard to reduce the time patients wait before they receive treatment and are focused on those with the greatest clinical need.

“The Trust has an expected trajectory for our position on 62-day waits for cancer patients up to March 2023, with the aim to return to pre-pandemic levels. This is monitored regularly."