Member's statement: Cancer: Waiting Times
Member's statement by Mr Philip McGuigan on .
- MLA
- Mr Philip McGuigan
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 7 April 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Cancer: Waiting Times
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4890231
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I wish to express my concern at the most recent statistics for waiting times for cancer patients. Those statistics were published last week and are relevant for the period from October to December 2024. The figures do not make good reading. Only 87·5% of cancer patients started treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat, instead of the target of 98%; only 37·9% of patients started treatment within 62 days following an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer, when that target is set at 95%; and just 31·7% of people were seen within 14 days by a breast cancer specialist following an urgent referral, despite the fact that all urgent breast cancer referrals should be seen within a two-week period. I acknowledge that there are several caveats at play with any statistics, so some caution should be exercised. However, it is clear that the expectation that people will have when beginning their journey of cancer tests and, if appropriate, diagnosis and treatment is falling far short of reality. Any delay in diagnosis or treatment will clearly impact on patient outcomes. It is important to remember that the figures that I have mentioned are not just statistics: those percentage figures equate to real people. For too many, the delays are their lived experience, and, for others, they are the experience of partners, family members and friends. I note that the Health Minister has a confirmed budget and ring-fenced money for red-flag cancer and time-critical treatment. We are in the third year of a 10-year cancer strategy, and we must do better. We need to see the Minister building on the recommendations in the cancer strategy. We also need to see the wise investment of the money that the Minister has available to him and the target waiting times for cancer to be met.
303 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.89 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.09 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:17 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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