Treatment targets are failing. Systemic complexity is hiding the true, deadly length of cancer waiting times


 A critical analysis of cancer care delivery argues that the current system of waiting time targets is outdated and dangerously misleading. The report warns that benchmarks such as the 62 day referral to treatment target are frequently missed and fail to capture the reality of modern complex care pathways. Patients who require multiple diagnostic tests or specialized scans often face delays that are invisible in the official data yet these delays significantly increase mortality risks. The authors contend that the increasing complexity of cancer cases combined with a lack of investment in staff and facilities has created a crisis that simple targets cannot fix. They call for a systemic overhaul involving a national learning system that uses real time data to identify bottlenecks and prioritize patients based on clinical urgency rather than arbitrary administrative clocks.

Read the original article at: http://www.bmj.com/content/392/bmj.s14.short?rss=1


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