Salisbury cancer survivor says treatment delays are 'a worry'
380,000 people have not been treated on time since 2015
A cancer survivor from Salisbury has told Greatest Hits Radio he's concerned by the number of people seeing their treatment for the disease delayed.
More than 380,000 cancer patients have not been treated on time since 2015, according to data analysed by Cancer Research UK.
The NHS targets starting care for 85% of patients within 62 days of a referral being made - but this target was last met in December 2015.
Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) say delays in cancer care are becoming "routine", with nearly half of cancer centres experiencing weekly delays to giving people treatment.
Robert Wells, who's survived pancreatic cancer, told GHR that his concerns are two-fold.
"The first problem is, the longer it takes for the cancer to be diagnosed and then treated, the greater chance that it's going to go from a a lower level to the a higher level and therefore the greater the risk of not being treatable," he said.
His second concern is that it adds unnecessary stress to the patient and their families as they live a life of uncertainty.
"The extra stress on you is enormous, the extra stress on the family is enormous, which again doesn't help being treated for cancer because you're even more stressed than you would have been and therefore even more susceptible to other problems," he said.
Mr Wells added that it's not a good situation for anyone, including the NHS.
He said: "The longer it takes for people to be diagnosed and treated, the greater the treatment required, so it's in everybody's interest that cancer is diagnosed and treated quickly."
An NHS England spokesperson said that it is "vital" for people to come forward if they are concerned about cancer symptoms, saying: "The NHS is seeing and treating record numbers of people for cancer, with 30% more people being treated last year than in 2015/16 and almost three million people receiving potentially lifesaving cancer checks in the last 12 months."