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Cancer wait times at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust are improving after opening of the Newmarket Community Diagnostic Centre




Waiting times for a cancer diagnosis at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust have made ‘a swift recovery’ after it emerged it was not meeting national targets in November.

One of the key reasons diagnosis times at the trust have improved is the opening of the Newmarket Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) at the end of the year.

The Newmarket CDC completed more than 3,300 scans in its first 50 days, increasing diagnosis activity through MRI, CT and ultrasound scans.

West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. Picture: Mark Westley
West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. Picture: Mark Westley

Board papers showed that in November, before the CDC opened, 58.6 per cent of patients had cancer ruled out or confirmed within 28 days.

This was significantly lower than the national target, for 2024/2025, which is 77 per cent.

Concern was raised regarding the length of time patients on skin cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer and gynaecology pathways had to wait for a diagnosis.

By December, 76.6 per cent of patients on the skin cancer pathway received a diagnosis or ruling out of cancer within 28 days - up from 34 per cent in November.

The trust which runs West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, and Newmarket Community Hospital, expects performance on the skin cancer pathway to improve further through January to March.

Matthew Keeling, deputy chief operating officer for WSFT, said: “In November 2024, the trust was not meeting the national standard for cancer diagnosis wait times, which was mainly down to some of its high-volume cancer pathways being unable to deliver the level of activity that they would want due to vacancies and staff sickness.

“During this time, the trust maintained pathway-specific best practice.

“However, the trust has had a swift recovery in December’s performance, which it expects will continue going forward allowing it to meet the national standard of 77 per cent.”

In December 71 per cent of patients told they had cancer began treatment within 62 days of being diagnosed.

This meets the national target for 2024/2025 which is 70 per cent.

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