840 people in East Suffolk and North Essex left waiting two months to start cancer treatment
There's also been an increase in the amount of people needing treatment
840 people in East Suffolk and North Essex have been left waiting two months to start cancer treatment.
This is according to research from the House of Commons Library, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats.
The figures also show that in 2022, 27% of patients had to wait more than two months for treatment to start.
Nick Hulme Chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) told us they have had a huge increase in the number of people needing treatment:
"We've seen an increase in cancer referrals of over 150% in terms of people coming through for what we call the 'two-week rule.'
"(The two-week rule is) the people who the GP think may have cancer, they (the GP's) send them (people) through.
"We've seen that increase since COVID.
"So the numbers of people that we're treating has gone up hugely. In fact, although more people are now waiting, we're also treating... 110% of the original numbers that we were treating pre-COVID.
"So the number of treatments... for cancer has gone up and we're treating more at ESNEFT than any other comparable sized organization, the region.
"So although the wait times are too long, I'm pleased that we've been able to increase the activity from COVID."
This isn't just a regional problem
Nick Hulme explained to us that all regions will be facing increased pressure and wait times due to the backlog COVID created:
"What we're seeing locally and nationally is a bit of a COVID hangover in terms of cancer because there were no screenings during COVID.
"And a lot of people who had symptoms didn't present to A&E, because they were worried because they were concerned about leaving their home, some of them couldn't leave the home
"So we think that nationally, between 16-18% of cancers were missed. They're (the symptoms are) now presenting. Some of them (people) are presenting sicker.
"So it's more difficult to treat them, but they're also presenting quite a bit later.
"So there's a whole range of issues affecting it."
What is ESNEFT doing to help this issue?
We asked Nick Hulme what measures ESNEFT are taking to reduce the wait times:
"What we're doing is increasing the number of staff that we have treating people with cancer.
"We're transforming our cancer pathways to make sure that we treat people as quickly as possible.
"We're also making sure that we treat those patients with the most acute need first. We know there are some cancers where if you don't treat people within 62 days, their outcome is going to be worse.
"There are some cancers where the speed of treatment doesn't necessarily affect their outcome, so those less aggressive cancers, the less troubling tumour sights, will wait a little bit longer and they'll have no impact on their outcome.
"Clearly there is a psychological impact. So I think, one of the things that we need to be very clear about is our communication with patients. To make sure that if there is a delay in treatment, it isn't going to affect their prognosis or their chance of recovery or survival.
"So for those that really do need that urgent, quick treatment, then we prioritize those.
"It does mean, sadly, that some people that don't have that urgency may wait a little bit longer."
'We're confident"
"We're confident that over the next six months, we will get back to the 85% of people that need to be treated within 62 days as well as recovering our two-week position and our first treatment at 31 days.
"So the transformation improvement plan is in place. We're delivering against it. We're slightly ahead of it on 2 weeks, slightly behind it on 62 days.
"But overall, like the rest of the country, we are dealing with unprecedented levels of demand onto our cancer pathways. "But we know what the issue is, we're addressing the issue and we'll see the improvement over the next few months."