Treatment delays leave UK facing cancer emergency, doctors warn

Clinicians warn of the UK's biggest cancer crisis ever' as record-breaking treatment waiting times have become normalised

Britain faces a cancer emergency because of treatment delays, doctors have warned, saying the care backlog needs the same urgent focus as the hunt for a Covid vaccine.

NHS figures show only 60.3% of the 14,425 cancer patients urgently referred by their GP in October waited less than than two months to start treatment. This was the second worst performance on record and some way below the target of 85%.