Breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK (around 56,000 women and 375 men are diagnosed with the disease every year). It is the fourth most common cause of cancer death (around 11,400 women and 85 men die each year) and the second most common cause of death in women.^[2] As age and biological sex are the biggest risk factors, women over 50 are automatically invited to participate in the NHS Breast Screening Programme every three years.^[3] The screening programme was shown to reduce the number of deaths from breast cancer and produce only a modest number of overdiagnosis.^[4][5]

Targets

National cancer waiting times standards were established by NHS England in 2009 (and the same targets have been set by NHS Scotland). In 2017 the targets are

• No more than 62 days wait between the date the hospital receives an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer and starting treatment
• Starting treatment no more than 31 days after the meeting at which you and your doctor agree the treatment plan^[14]

The targets are monitored monthly and in the period from 2014 to 2016 were only met in 4 months out of 36.^[15]

Sara Hiom of Cancer Research UK said, ‘The state of NHS diagnostic services is deeply concerning – and new GP referral guidelines from NICE mean that even more patients will be waiting for these tests. There aren’t enough trained staff, they're often reliant on outdated equipment and in many cases they're already operating services seven days a week.' Dr Giles Maskell of the Royal College of Radiologists said, ‘Well-resourced testing services are crucial to the early diagnosis of cancer, which in turn is vital to increase survival from the disease.' Cancer Research UK is calling on the government to provide funding for earlier diagnosis of cancer as prompt diagnosis increases the chances the patient will survive.^[16]