Figures show the number of cancer patients waiting twice as long to start treatment has doubled since 2020.
Almost 16,000 patients have waited more than four months for cancer care after receiving an urgent referral in the last four years.
This is double the NHS target, which requires treatment to begin within two months of suspecting cancer.
Experts described the delays as “worrying” and warned that long waits now could cost lives for years to come.
The Lib Dems’ analysis showed 6,334 patients waited for 124 days last year, more than double the 2,922 in 2020.
The number of cancer patients waiting twice as long to start treatment has doubled since 2020, figures show (Stock Photo)
Almost 16,000 patients have waited more than four months for cancer care after receiving an urgent referral in the last four years (File photo)
More than 1,100 cancer patients had to wait more than six months to start treatment last year, according to the results of a Freedom of Information request.
Data was received from 69 of 137 acute health trusts in the UK, meaning the actual figures will be much higher.
Long waits at University Hospitals Leicester almost quadrupled, with 484 patients spending more than four months on the waiting list compared to 122 in 2020.
Some 163 remained waiting for more than six months, more than five times longer than the 31 in the same period.
Similarly, at Leeds University Hospitals, 303 patients waited four months last year, compared to 120 in 2020.
A patient at Frimley NHS Foundation Trust, Surrey, started treatment more than two years (811 days) after first being urgently referred.
Another at Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust, Essex, waited 505 days for treatment, while one at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust spent 496 days on the waiting list.
Dr Owen Jackson, Policy Director at Cancer Research UK, said: “Behind these unmet targets are patients – friends, family and loved ones – who face unacceptably long and anxious waits for treatment after learning that They have cancer.”
“The reality is that the two-month treatment target has not been met since 2015, and that represents a long-term failure in planning and investing in cancer services.”
He called for more staff and equipment for the NHS, as well as a reform of cancer services.
“Without this, cancer patients will continue to face even more fear and anxiety during what is already a stressful time in their lives,” he added.
Health leaders said NHS cancer checks have more than doubled in the last decade and more cancers are being caught early.
Strikes by junior doctors and consultants have also taken their toll, with more than 7,000 cancer operations having been delayed as a result of the strike.
Rory Deighton, director of the NHS Confederation’s Acute Network, said health leaders “are doing everything they can” to get cancer services back on track.
‘The implementation of rapid diagnosis has been very successful in diagnosing cancer more quickly, but there is a risk that this will lead to more patients waiting for treatment than can currently be seen.
Long waits at University Hospitals Leicester (pictured) have almost quadrupled, with 484 patients spending more than four months on the waiting list compared to 122 in 2020.
A patient at Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust (pictured), Essex, waited 505 days for treatment.
“Our members also welcome public health measures to combat smoking and obesity, including the proposed smoking ban, which will help reduce the prevalence of some of the most common cancers.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said £2.3bn had been invested in community diagnostic centers across England which are speeding up cancer diagnosis.
He said: “The NHS has cared for and treated a record number of cancer patients in the last two years, and survival rates have improved in almost all types of cancer, and is making real progress in reducing long waiting period for cancer diagnosis, with the most recent data”. showing that more than 78 per cent of patients waited less than 28 days to receive their diagnosis in February.’