Debate contribution: Cancer Waiting Times

Debate contribution by Miss Nuala McAllister on 12 May 2025.

MLA

Miss Nuala McAllister

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

12 May 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Cancer Waiting Times

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4937439

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank my colleague on the Health Committee for moving the motion. Like others who have already spoken, I express deep concern and dismay at the current state of cancer waiting lists in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, it is not the first time that we are debating the matter. We have discussed it over many months since the return of the Assembly, but the hope is that, in the end, the situation and outcome will get better. As a member of the Health Committee, I am frustrated by the lack of progress. However, I recognise the attempts at making progress. I can only imagine how difficult it is for members of the public and how they must feel when they do not have the capacity to get the answers that they require to the question of when they will receive their diagnosis or treatment. As has already been highlighted by many Members, only 31·7% — the target is 100% — of breast cancer referrals were seen within the 14-day target from September to December 2024. As colleagues have said, we heard from the Minister last week regarding the breast cancer regional referral system, and I asked a question after that ministerial statement about whether we could receive an update on that. If the Minister does not have an update today, we could perhaps ask for that update at our next Health Committee meeting. Regional planning is important. Breast cancer is just one of the cancers that can be targeted regionally. In my questions after the ministerial statement last week, I also asked about the planning of other regional waiting lists, because many medics have highlighted the fact that there are multiple people on multiple waiting lists across the trusts. We have also seen that 1,445 cancer patients started treatment following urgent GP referral for suspected cancer and that 37·9% of them started their treatment within the 62-day target. However, the target is 95%, as has been highlighted previously. When we speak to the medics on the ground, whether it is emergency medicine workers, staff, consultants or resident doctors, many say that some of those diagnoses are being made in our A&E departments. That is not a situation that we should find ourselves in. Those are just two examples of a slight increase from the previous quarter, but 31·7% and 37·9% are not good enough results, and I do not doubt that the Minister agrees. The 2020 study published in the British Medical Journal, which states that, for many cancers, a four-week delay to surgery increases the risk of dying by 6% to 8%, adds even more weight to the idea that we should do something now to change that outcome permanently. Statistics from Cancer Research UK show that almost all those who are diagnosed with breast cancer at stage 1 will survive compared with only three in 10 who are diagnosed at stage 4. Likewise, with bowel cancer, nine in 10 people diagnosed at stage 1 will survive, yet it is only one in 10 for those who are diagnosed at stage 4. We are talking about people whose lives are so drastically impacted on — it impacts not only on them but on their families. Another issue that many Members have touched on today is the fact that the statistics are not entirely complete. With the roll-out of Encompass, I ask the Minister this: when will we start to get complete statistics so that we can compare and see where progress has been made? We stood in the Chamber last week and welcomed the progress that was highlighted by the Minister on tackling waiting lists and the initiatives created, but we now need to see and evaluate the effectiveness not only of those actions but of the actions that have been taking place since the Assembly was restored. I am delighted to support the motion, but it is difficult to get up time and again to talk about the unacceptable delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Thank you very much for tabling the motion.

674 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:22 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification