Almost all NHS trusts are missing a major cancer target – with some of the worst performers seeing only about half of patients on time, data shows.
Figures analysed by the Press Association (PA) for 2025 show a wide variation among trusts in England, with some patients experiencing waits of more than 104 days.
The NHS has a long-standing target for 85% of patients to wait no longer than 62 days from their cancer referral being received to beginning treatment.
It has failed to do so at a national level since 2014.
The government has also set an interim target of March 2026 for this figure to reach 75%.
The new analysis of NHS England figures shows just three of 119 acute trusts with comparable data met or exceeded the 85% target last year, while only around a quarter reached above 75%.
The three that did meet the 85% target in 2025 were: Calderdale and Huddersfield (89.2% of patients), Homerton Healthcare (85.8%), and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells (85.7%).
Percentage of patients in 2025 who began their first treatment for cancer within 62 days of an urgent referral; and (in brackets) percentage in 2024 who began their first treatment within 62 days, according to PA’s analysis of data published by NHS England.
Calderdale and Huddersfield 89.2% (89.4%)
Homerton Healthcare 85.8% (79.7%)
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells 85.7% (85.4%)
East and North Hertfordshire 84.95% (85.2%)
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals 83.6% (83.4%)
Guy’s and St Thomas’ 55.1% (47.7%)
Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn 54.2%
Hull University Teaching Hospitals 53.1% (54.8%)
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals 50.1% (50.7%)
Mid and South Essex 45.4% (47.0%)
Across England, 69.1% of patients (239,038 out of 345,847) started cancer treatment within 62 days last year, a slight increase from 67.7% (221,380 out of 327,221) in 2024, but short of the target.
Some 65 of the 119 trusts saw a year-on-year rise in the percentage of patients seen within 62 days, while 54 saw a drop.
Four trusts topped 85% in 2024 compared with three in 2025, with Calderdale and Huddersfield ranking highest in the list in both years.
Read more from Sky News:
Broadband rule means reader owed £2,000
Dual nationals could be denied UK entry
An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS is seeing and treating record numbers of patients for cancer, with more than three quarters of people receiving a diagnosis or all clear within four weeks, but there are still too many people experiencing unacceptably long waits for their first treatment.
“Our landmark National Cancer Plan sets out a clear roadmap to ensuring we are meeting all three cancer standards to see and treat patients on time over the next three years, with further improvements to make care more personalised and significantly improve survival.”
Follow our channel and never miss an update.
Waits of more than 104 days
PA analysis also shows that in a handful of trusts, at least one in seven patients who started cancer treatment in December 2025 had been waiting more than 104 days since an urgent referral.
At University Hospitals of Leicester, 13.7% of patients starting treatment in December had waited this long, as well as 14.5% of patients at Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, 14.9% at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and 15.5% at Guy’s and St Thomas’.
The proportion was as high as one in six patients at Hull University Teaching Hospitals (16.5%) and Mid and South Essex (17.0%).
Trusts looking to ‘turn this around’
Kirsten Major, chief executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, said: “We previously had some of the best cancer waiting times, so we are concerned about the drop in performance and the impact on our patients.
“This is one of our top three priorities and as such, we have already taken actions to turn this around, including additional clinics and diagnostic capacity and changes to improve and speed up the care that we provide.”
She said the trust is “now seeing a consistent improvement in cancer waiting times each month”.
A spokeswoman for Guy’s & St Thomas’ said “improving how quickly people can access our services is a key priority for the trust”, adding: “While we have made progress in the past year, we recognise that further improvement is required, and we are ambitious about how quickly we can do this.”
