An NHS trust is investing in artificial intelligence and robotic surgery as it aims to stop patients waiting ‘too long’ to start their treatment for cancer.
Around a third of patients at the Royal Devon University NHS Foundation Trust, which covers North, East and Mid Devon, wait for longer than two months for treatment after receiving an urgent suspected cancer referral.
The NHS aims for 85 per cent of patients to start treatment within 62 days – but this target was last met across England in 2015.
And BBC analysis says cancer waiting times in 2023 were the worst on record as providers faced rising demand for their services after the Covid pandemic, while healthcare bosses dealt with industrial action throughout the year.
At the Royal Devon Trust, initiatives to reduce waiting times include investments in clinical staff and modern innovations such as robotic surgery and artificial intelligence.
Exeter's Nightingale Hospital (first used to handle Covid patients) has also been repurposed to provide diagnostic imaging and two additional theatres.
How many Royal Devon Trust patients start treatment within two months?
Just under two-thirds of cancer patients at the Royal Devon Trust started receiving treatment within two months of an urgent referral to a hospital at the end of 2023.
Across October, November and December, figures show there were a total of 1,088 people being treated for cancer at the trust's hospitals.
Of those, 713 (65.5 per cent) commenced their treatment within 62 days, including 263 (24.2 per cent) who waited for one month or less.
But that means 34.3 per cent started their treatment after the two-month target, while 102 patients had to wait for more than 104 days.
Across all English providers, an average of 64.7 per cent of patients were seen within two months across October, November and December.
Across the full year, this figure was around 64.1 per cent – meaning around 100,000 people were left waiting longer than two months.
Demand for cancer care on the rise
Lockdown saw fewer people seeing their GP and being referred for cancer tests, leading to a ‘backlog to cancer care’, according to national charities.
And FORCE, which helps people affected by cancer in Exeter and East Devon, said demand for its services (such as counselling, group support and access to other specialist sessions) has risen ‘significantly’ since the pandemic.
The charity's experience has been backed up by data from the NHS in the seven-year period to September 2023.
This shows a spike in cancer patient numbers last year – particularly when compared to the period from 2019 to 2022.
From September 2016 to September 2023, the percentage of patients treated within two months fell by 14.1 per cent, reflecting national trends.
What is being done to make improvements?
The Royal Devon Trust has committed to several investment projects to help cancer patients start their treatment in a timely manner.
John Palmer, chief operating officer at the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are extremely proud of our colleagues at the Royal Devon who have shown such tenacity and team working in the face of the pandemic and more recent challenges.
“We want our cancer patients to be able to start treatment in a timely way.
“To support this, we have trained and recruited more clinical staff and secured investment for a number of clinical innovations.
“This includes more robotic surgery, which is less invasive and leads to faster recovery for patients.
“We are also using artificial intelligence to reduce waiting times for a diagnosis.
“We have also invested in additional capacity at the Nightingale Hospital, with two additional theatres, a range of diagnostic imaging and outpatient accommodation.
“Our overall waiting list continues to improve – between December 2022 and December 2023, we saw the eighth-largest reduction in the overall size of our waiting list when compared with 166 organisations across the country.
“We are really pleased we are making progress for our patients. We know some are still waiting too long, so this work continues.”
And FORCE will continue to fundraise to continue their efforts to support cancer patients and their families in Exeter and East Devon.
Support services manager Alex Moseley said: “Our charity played an important role in establishing a cancer hub at Ottery St Mary where patients and their families can not only access clinical services like chemotherapy and consultant appointments but also much of the holistic care FORCE provides at its Exeter base.
“Working alongside the medical teams at the Rowan Unit, the FORCE cancer hub at Ottery hospital opened in December 2022.”
He added: “Since then, people who live locally and have been affected by cancer have accessed approximately 25 sessions per month of our services that include counselling, group support, specialist physio and exercise clinics and complementary therapies like massage.
“It’s all available free of charge and we hear from our visitors just how much the people of East Devon appreciate the work FORCE does to help anyone affected by cancer, and what a difference it makes to have services available locally.
“We are working hard to ensure that we can offer the best possible services across Devon in partnership with the Trust and we’re grateful to everyone in the community who supports us with some amazing fundraising.”
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