Cancer waiting times are an important indicator of the quality and performance of cancer services. The maximum waiting time for suspected cancer is two weeks from the day a patient’s appointment is booked through the NHS e-Referral Service, or when the hospital or service receives a patient’s referral letter from their GP. Meeting cancer wait times is a top priority for TCST.

TCST supports systems to deliver improvements to cancer waits and prepare for the new Faster Diagnosis Standard. We provide cancer waits training, expertise in measurement, pan-London performance analysis and cancer intelligence. We have also established a partnership with the Elective Care Improvement Support Team (IST) to increase implementation of good practice to support the sustainability of cancer waits across London, working at both sector and local provider level. We work collaboratively with cancer alliances to organise pan-London workshops in order to share good practice and support improvement across London. For more information visit our Cancer Waits Improvement page.

An analysis of urgent suspected cancer referrals can be found in our Suspected cancer referrals section.

Statistics and information on National cancer waiting times

If you are an NHS stakeholder, and would like more information or access to more detailed analysis please contact: england.tcstlondon@nhs.net