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, multidisciplinary team co-ordinators, and other administrative and operational colleagues involved in delivering cancer services.
- Resources to support service improvement
- 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 integrated care board 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.
- The National Disease Registration Service collects 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.
- 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 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.
National Cancer Service networks
The networks are dedicated, national spaces for cancer managers and multidisciplinary team (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 (login required).
Our Mentoring Programme, which can be accessed through the Future NHS workspace (login required), provides peer support for cancer managers and MDT co-ordinators on an individual basis, particularly for those newer in post or experiencing challenges in their role.