Waiting times targets for cancer treatments were introduced in the 2000 Cancer Plan. By January 2006 patients were being seen and treated in pan birmimgham cancer network within the target timeframes of sixty-two, thirty-one and fourteen days.

Following several years of improvements to care pathways and the refinement of tracking and data collection systems the 2007 Cancer Reform Strategy ambitiously increased the scope of cancer waiting times monitoring to include recurrences, subsequent treatments and cancers diagnosed via the screening programmes.

A review by the National Cancer Director, published as part of Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer 2010, found that these targets should remain.

Guidance on interpretation and application of the cancer waiting times reporting requirements is available here and performance data are published here.

In order to facilitate the rapid communication of information required for monitoring the cancer waiting times targets local teams have developed a tertiary alert form and accompanying policy.