Improving cancer care waits for patients

13 November 2024 - Patients under the care of teams at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are experiencing shorter waits for cancer care as a result of improvements made at the Trust.

A series of measures introduced at King’s since the start of the year have helped ensure that fewer patients are now waiting more than 28 days for a cancer diagnosis, or to have cancer ruled out, after a referral from their GP.

A total of 81% of patients at the Trust were seen within 28 days in August 2024, which is above NHS England’s target of 75%.

Similarly, performance has improved for the number of patients receiving a confirmed cancer diagnosis, and treatment starting, within 62 days of being referred to our teams by their GP.

As a result of these improvements, King’s has also been removed from NHS England’s cancer tiering programme, which consists of those Trusts identified as needing the most support to deliver improvements.

Professor Clive Kay, Chief Executive at the Trust, welcomed the improvements delivered by teams at the Trust:

“This is really positive news, and is the result of hard work by clinical and operational colleagues across our hospital, as well as support from the partner organisations we work with.”

“Providing a high quality, responsive service for patients referred for a cancer diagnosis, or to have cancer ruled out, is vitally important, and we will continue to work hard to improve the service we provide even further.”