For the first three months of 2020, the Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT) was the only one of the five Trusts to achieve the Ministerial target of patients commencing their first treatment for cancer within 31 days following a decision to treat.

In January and March 100 per cent of patients were treated within 31 days with February just slightly below with 99.3 per cent of patients beginning treatment within 31 days.

No other Trust reached the target in the first quarter of 2020 in statistics released by the Department of Health.

The WHSCT also achieved the 100 per cent Ministerial target in the first quarter of the year for all urgent breast cancer referrals to be seen within 14 days. This was an improvement on the same period in 2019 when the WHSCT only reached its target in February.

However none of the five Trusts met the Ministerial target of patients who should begin their first treatment for cancer within 62 days following an urgent referral from their GP for suspect cancer.

The target of at least 95 per cent of patients beginning treatment within 62 days, which was set in 2009 has not been met since February 2016 in the Western Trust and has never been met across Northern Ireland.

In January, only 54 per cent of patients received their first treatment for cancer, while in February it was 67.3 per cent and in March 56 per cent.

An additional report which outlines cancer waiting times for the month of April was published last Thursday. This showed that in April 2020, compared to April 2019, the percentage of patients seen within the target of 62 days following an urgent GP referral fell from 58 per cent to 50 per cent in Northern Ireland.

Margaret Carr, Cancer Research UK’s public affairs manager in Northern Ireland, said both reports paint a worrying picture of the impact of COVID-19 on cancer services.

“Unfortunately, in future, we’re likely to see an even more significant increase in cancer waiting times. This is due to many diagnostic services being paused for COVID-19. As health services work hard to restart, a backlog is inevitable. This will be a huge worry for patients. It’s important the health service restores public confidence by making sure that cancer testing and treatment takes place in locations are safe from COVID-19.

“It’s essential we see all cancer services fully operational in Northern Ireland as soon as possible. This means taking action to quickly ramp up the number of virus tests offered.”