Very pleased: Vaughan Gething AM

THE LATEST cancer treatment figures for Wales were released last week (Feb17) and have been described as, variously, an improvement and a ‘worrying deterioration.’

The new figures published show that the Welsh NHS met the 98% target for treating cancer patients within 31 days in December 2015, with 98.9% of people starting treatment within the target time – the best performance recorded since October 2013.

Meanwhile, 86.2% of people started treatment within 62 days of being referred with urgent suspected cancer by their GP – this includes all diagnostic tests and consultations with experts. This is an improvement on November’s figure of 84.3% and is the best performance since July 2015.

However, in December 2014, 87.7% of patients referred by the Urgent Suspected Cancer (USC) route were treated within 62 days.

The improvements to cancer waiting times come after Deputy Health Minister Vaughan Gething asked each of Wales’ health boards to produce 100-day plans to improve cancer services in October 2015. In October only 81% of patients were treated within the 62 day period.

Welcoming the improvement, Vaughan Gething said: “Over the last year, more than 16,000 people in Wales have been treated for cancer in the Welsh NHS. More than 14,700 were treated within target time – 9,000 within the 31-day target.

“I’m very pleased the NHS met the 31-day target in December 2015. I expect health boards to ensure this performance continues in the months ahead and improve performance for people on the 62-day pathway.”

However, the performance of the Welsh NHS was criticised by Conservative Shadow Health Minister Darren Millar, who claimed that only 83.37% of patients referred through the USC route in the last quarter of 2015 were treated within 62 days.

Mr Millar said: “Today’s figures highlight a worrying deterioration in urgent cancer waiting times in Wales, against a target which hasn’t been met since 2008.

“Ultimately, Welsh communities have every right to question whether performance is ever going to reach an acceptable standard under Labour.

“Delays between diagnosis and treatment create huge added worry for patients and their families and can often result in poorer outcomes.

“Labour’s record-breaking NHS budget cuts have hit frontline services hard and it is patients and their families who feel the consequences first hand.

“Welsh Conservatives would provide the investment our NHS deserves and our £100 million patients’ fund would ensure accountability in frontline cancer services and boosted access to treatment.”

The figure of 83.37% is at odds with the Welsh Government claim of 83.7%. In this case, it appears that the data provided by the Welsh NHS is correct. 1,463 out of 1,747 patients were treated within the 62 day period, which equates to 83.74%.

The target that Mr Millar refers to is 95% of USC referrals being treated within 62 days. While the Welsh NHS has failed to meet this target, it is notable that the comparative target set by the Conservative-controlled NHS in Wales is 85%.

In fact, given some of the rhetoric used by the UK Conservatives to describe the Welsh NHS, including David Cameron’s infamous claim that Offa’s Dyke is ‘the line between life and death’, it is worth comparing the data from the English NHS with its Welsh counterpart.

Over the quarter, 97.5% of Welsh patients diagnosed not through the USC route were treated within 31 days. The figures for the English NHS for October –December 2015 show that 96.8% of patients were treated within the 31 day period.

For GP USC referrals, 83.4% of patients were treated within 62 days. This, compared to the Welsh figure of 83.7% is hardly a ringing endorsement. The English NHS did outperform the Welsh NHS in October, when 81.7% of patients were treated within 62 days compared to 81% in Wales. However in November 89.4% of Welsh patients were treated within 62 days compared to 83.5% in England, and in December, the Welsh figure of 86.2% compares favourably with the English 85.1%.

These figures show two things. Firstly, claims that the NHS is underperforming as a result of Labour leadership are somewhat misleading in this instance. Secondly, delivering performances which are only slightly better than the English NHS is a worthy achievement, but not one on which much political capital can be made for Welsh Labour. The only parties really able to campaign on the basis of NHS improvements are those which have not recently been in a position to disprove this by actually holding a position of power in the UK recently – Plaid Cymru, UKIP and the Greens.

StatsWales has said that due to the relatively small numbers in the monthly statistic ‘care should be taken when interpreting percentages.’ However, this has not stopped every political party, including the Welsh Labour Government, from using the figures as they are released each month to show either a reasonable performance (Labour) or a disaster in the making (everyone else).

However, in the case of cancer treatment waiting times, it appears that the recent OECD findings, which show there is little difference between NHS service in any of the Home Nations, is borne out, with the Welsh figures following similar fluctuations to those in England, but consistently performing at a slightly higher level.