Government target 'failing' breast cancer patients

The government’s two-week target is failing to have the hoped-for impact on waiting times for breast cancer treatment, according to a study published in the British Journal of Cancer today.

The target – set in April 1999 – aims for all women referred urgently by their GP with suspected breast cancer to see a hospital consultant within a fortnight. But nearly two years later, while the proportion of women meeting the target had risen, waiting times for subsequent treatment had gone up and overall waiting times had not changed, the report suggests.

Researchers at the Thames Cancer Registry, King’s College London, examined audit data on waiting times from 19 hospitals in Southeast England. The study analysed the records of 5750 women referred by their GP between July 1997 and December 2000 and treated for breast cancer in subsequent months, comparing those referred before and after the April 1999 watershed.

Following the introduction of the target, the proportion of women who saw a consultant within two weeks of referral rose from 66% to 75%, while the median (midpoint average) waiting time fell from 11 to 10 days.

But the proportion of women who received treatment within five weeks of their hospital appointment fell from 84% to 80% and median waiting time increased from 16 to 20 days.

Dr David Robinson, of Guy’s King’s and St Thomas’ School of Medicine, King’s College London, said: “Our study suggests that the government’s two-week target has changed little for women undergoing breast cancer treatment. The problem with arbitrary targets is that rather than bringing about a genuine and lasting improvement in cancer services, they just seem to push patients from one queue to another.”

Radiotherapy patients in particular often face unacceptable waits for treatment, according to the report. It also found that women with symptoms of breast cancer generally wait longer for an appointment than those diagnosed through screening, even though their cases may be more urgent.

The two-week target was met more often for women whose cancers were detected by the screening programme than for those who went to their doctors with symptoms of cancer.

A total of 86% of women with screen-detected tumours saw a consultant within two weeks, but that figure fell to just 68% for women with symptoms.

(GMcG)