Inside the Assembly: Tackling Unacceptable Cancer Waiting Times

Motion: Tackling Unacceptable Cancer Waiting Times – 12 May 2025

 
Diane Dodds MLA moved the Motion:

• She said waiting times are an indicator for people on how we view our overall services.
• She is extremely concerned that the Department continues to issue appalling statistics for Northern Ireland, but this only gets a cursory mention in the Assembly or media.
• Cancer Focus NI indicate that none of the Departmental targets for cancer have been met since 2012.
• She said that the most recent cancer waiting times published last month revealed that 87.5% of patients started treatment within 31 days of diagnosis against a target of 98%. This has decreased from the last quarter and the same time as last year.
• She said that the Elective Care Framework is not nearly ambitious enough.
• She criticised the Reimbursement Subsidy Scheme as she said “it turns the principle of the NHS on its head by allowing the wealthy to jump the queue.”
• She highlighted that since 2018, the number of doctors in Northern Ireland has increased by over 1000 and nurses and midwives by over 2000. She asked, with these figures in mind, how waiting times have gotten worse, even with additional staff.

Colin McGrath MLA moved the amendment:
 

• He said that the amendment is introduced in the spirit of supporting the debate.
• He raised the issue of fear associated with cancer and waiting times.
• He said it is our duty to respond with urgency and compassion.
• He highlighted how artificial intelligence could be used to reduce diagnostic waiting times but acknowledged that these technologies carry a financial cost.
• He called for ringfenced funding and multiyear budgets to facilitate planning and funding within the Department.
• He said we need to give the Department the tools they need to reduce waiting lists, particularly for cancer.

 
Minister for Health, Mike Nesbitt MLA:
 

• The Minister agreed that cancer waiting times are completely unacceptable. He said we need to be future focused on this issue.
• He called for sustained effort, intervention, and funding over a five-year period.
• The Minister championed the £215 million ringfenced funding for waiting lists. He added that the Department will provide an implementation plan later this month on how the £215 million will be invested.
• He said that poor performance is due to several interrelated factors, with regional red flag referral trends showing a significant increase of 39% between 2017/18 – 2022/23 without the adequate resources to meet that growing demand.
• He said there is a significant demand and capacity gap within elective care and imaging services which is delaying initial diagnosis.
• He added that an increase in unscheduled care and phased implementation of Encompass has exacerbated the problem.
• He highlighted the Department’s efforts to increase diagnostic capacity across Northern Ireland in terms of addressing imaging diagnostic services.
• The Minister said that the implementation of the Cancer Strategy is a priority. He said he plans to publish the next three-year Cancer Strategy Implementation Plan in the next few weeks. This will address the reforms needed to deliver cancer services.
• He said the Department has submitted three bids to the Public Sector Transformation Board, which were all successful.

 
The Assembly voted to pass the Motion and the Amendment.

We spoke with the Health Minister and raised our concerns around OG waiting times back at our meeting in January. This is something we will be seeking further clarification and updates on when we meet again next month.

The Minister also announced that the 26^th meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council Health and Food Safety Sectoral had taken place recently. Mike Nesbitt shared the following information around cancer care which came out of the meeting:

• Ministers welcomed the awarding of five research grants under the Ireland-Northern Ireland-National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium, which will enhance collaboration and innovation amongst cancer researchers and experts across the three jurisdictions.

• The Council noted the continuing efforts and engagement to improve cancer research and clinical trials at an ‘Island of Ireland’ scale and the benefits for patients from the ongoing cooperation and expansion of Radiotherapy Services at Altnagelvin Hospital.

• Ministers welcomed further cooperation on services provided through the North-West Cancer Centre, the collaboration by both jurisdictions in working together to develop projects to improve cancer services for patients across both jurisdictions, and efforts to work together to develop a concept as a collaborative project.