Operational management, administration and performance

There were changes to cancer waiting times standards from 1 October 2023.

The most recent ambitions, as outlined in the 2024/25 priorities and operational planning guidance, are to meet the Faster Diagnosis standard (77%) by March 2025, and reach 70% for the 62 day standard by 2025.

This page outlines resources that will help cancer managers, MDT Co-ordinators, and other administrative and operational colleagues involved in delivering cancer services.

  • Resources to support service improvement
  • Faster Diagnosis Framework
  • National Cancer Service Networks
  • Training and development resources for cancer administrative staff

Resources to support service improvement

  • Cancer waiting times statistics provide levels of activity by standard, by provider or ICB sub location, and by cancer type for the provider-based data. Monthly data and summaries are aggregated at national, provider, and commissioner level. This data is updated on the second Thursday of each month.
  • National cancer waiting times monitoring dataset guidance provides a set of rules to ensure that cancer waiting times data are recorded consistently, and in a way which allows transparent and accurate reporting.
  • Best practice timed pathways support the ongoing improvement effort to shorten diagnosis pathways, reduce variation, improve patient experience of care, and meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS). The guidance is intended for NHS organisations and their staff to adopt consistent, system-wide approaches to managing cancer diagnosis pathways and sets out how cancer diagnosis within 28 days can be achieved.
  • The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) collect patient data on cancer, congenital anomalies and rare diseases, and provides expert, timely analysis to support clinical teams, academics, charities and policy makers to help plan and improve treatments and healthcare in England. This includes the Cancer Outcomes and Services Data set (COSD).
  • Elective Care Improvement Support team is a national team of senior managers with deep subject matter expertise in operational improvement of Cancer and Diagnostic services. Their Future NHS workspace includes tools, guidance documents, and supporting information that you can use to help improve cancer waits and access for patients.
  • The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is a national NHS England programme designed to improve the treatment and care of patients through in-depth review of services, benchmarking, and presenting a data-driven evidence base to support change.

Faster Diagnosis Framework

Faster Diagnosis is fundamental to achieving the ambitions for cancer set out in the National Cancer Plan. The NHS Cancer Programme has developed a Faster Diagnosis Framework, which sets out NHS England ’s strategic approach to speed up cancer diagnosis and improve patient experience.

Previously, a range of objectives relating to the faster diagnosis of cancer have existed across a number of separate programmes, including rapid diagnostic centres, the Faster Diagnosis Standard and Best Practice Timed Pathways. The Faster Diagnosis Framework brings this together .

The Faster Diagnostic Framework aims to deliver:

  • an earlier and faster diagnosis for patients, whether or not they are diagnosed with cancer
  • excellent patient experience, a holistic assessment of patient needs, and streamlined support across community, primary and secondary care
  • increased capacity in the system, through more efficient diagnostic pathways
  • support to healthcare providers to reach the Faster Diagnosis Standard.

The Faster Diagnosis Framework comprises three elements, including:

  • the non-specific symptoms pathway
  • best practice timed pathway implementation, which will include working with cancer alliances and integrated care systems (ICSs) and regional diagnostics programmes to ensure sufficient capacity is available, and
  • a series of improvements across all pathways, regardless of cancer type.

National Cancer Services Networks

The networks are dedicated, national spaces for Cancer Managers and MDT Co-ordinators to access peer support , facilitating the sharing of best practice and solutions to challenges. We host quarterly virtual meetings and annual face-to-face national conferences for Cancer Managers and MDT Co-ordinators to share experience, guidance and learning.

To join the networks, please contact us at england.cancerperformance@nhs.net or visit our dedicated Future NHS workspace.

Our mentoring programme, which can be accessed through the Future NHS workspace, provides peer support for Cancer Managers and MDT Co-ordinators on a 1:1 basis, particularly for those newer in post or experiencing challenges in their role.

Training and development resources