The current cancer waiting times targets in Wales could end up being scrapped under plans announced by Welsh Government.
At present, there are two targets for cancer waiting times in Wales:
• Urgent route, starting within 62 days - target is 95%
• Non-urgent route, starting within 31 days - target is 98%
Under new plans, the Cabinet Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething AM, would seek to replace these targets with one target, although it is not yet clear what that might be.
Responding, Angela Burns AM, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Secretary, said:
“Cancer survival rates in Wales are among the worst in Europe, so clearly the current system is not working.
“We know from the Welsh Government’s scrapping of ambulance response targets that systemic changes are often done at the expense of patient outcomes, and mainly serve to help health ministers evade scrutiny.
“In the absence of any detail, we cannot at present support moves towards a single cancer treatment route.
“Any changes to this end would need to be piloted for a minimum of 12 months with cast-iron assurances that patients would not be negatively impacted during this trial period.”
