Cancer targets for faster diagnosis and treatment are being missed in Sussex, with a spike in the number of suspected cases of skin cancer, according to a report to councillors.
It said that University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, was below the 75 per cent target for the 28-day faster diagnosis standard as of August.
The report also said that in the summer, University Hospitals Sussex reported a one-third increase in the number of suspected skin cancer cases compared with the same period last year.
The reporting levels remained high for longer than usual and contributed to a 62-day backlog which, the report said, had since been decreasing.
NHS Sussex, the integrated care board (ICB) for the county, said that it was aiming to improve cancer services which had been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. It wants to reduce waiting times.
Figures reported last week showed that University Hospitals Sussex had met the faster diagnosis standard of 28 days in 72.1 per cent of cases in September, down from 72.5 per cent in August.
The report to councillors said: “This position is primarily driven by challenges observed in the skin pathway throughout the summer period.
“Referral demand exceeded worst-case scenario modelling, reaching in excess of 30 per cent above 2024-25 peak demand. This was observed across the organisation and led to the trust backlog reaching a peak in September.
“Significant recovery work has taken place throughout the second half of September and throughout October and full recovery is forecast to be complete by November month-end.”
None of the NHS trusts in Sussex met the 85 per cent standard for treatment within 62 days.
Some 75 per cent of patients started their treatment in that time at University Hospitals Sussex and East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.
The number of cancer referrals had increased but diagnosis levels had remained the same, the report to councillors said. Within these figures, the overall number of cases had crept up.
Work was under way to try to meet the increasing level of demand and to speed up diagnosis for the most common cancers – breast, lower gastro-intestinal (GI), gynaecology and urology.
Patients needing lower GI cancer surgery now go to Worthing Hospital – a centre of excellence for colorectal cancer surgery – rather than the Royal Sussex.
According to national cancer targets, patients should wait no more 62 days from referral to treatment, if cancer is found. Diagnosis should take no more than 28 days.
The report said that there was a time lag for figures for one-year and five-year survival rates.
In Brighton and Hove, as of January 2020, the latest figures available, 74.6 per cent of those with cancer diagnosed survived a year – below the Sussex average of 75.4 per cent but equal the national average.
Five-year survival rates were only available for Sussex. The figure, from January 2016, again the latest data, was 56.4 per cent, higher than the national average of 55.7 per cent.
The report said that University Hospitals Sussex served a population of 1.28 million, with 13.7 per cent of the population in Brighton and Hove aged over 65, compared with 22.9 per cent in West Sussex and 18 per cent nationally.
Just 3.6 per cent of the population is over 80 in Brighton and Hove, compared with nearly 6.9 per cent in West Sussex and 5 per cent nationally.
The council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm next Tuesday (18 November). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast.
