AN NHS boss has apologised after failing to meet targets for the diagnosis and treatment of serious medical conditions, including cancer.

A 2024/25 performance report for the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System shows a consistent failure to meet the current standards for patients to receive their diagnosis and first treatment for cancer.

People with suspected cancer should not wait more than 28 days from referral to getting a cancer diagnosis or having cancer ruled out and should begin their first treatment within 31 days of diagnosis. Urgent referrals should begin treatment within 62 days.

The service failed to meet these targets in every month in 2024/25, with almost 5,936 patients still waiting for a diagnosis after 28 days in February. Just 35 per cent of patients were treated within 62 days and 421 were still waiting for more than 62 days in February.

Managers say they "recognise that our performance has dropped for certain cancers due to increase in demand and diagnostic pathways needing improvement" and it is hoped with an £11m investment and four new Community Diagnostic Centres in the pipeline diagnoses will improve.

Nevertheless a pledge to have no one waiting more than 65 weeks for treatment for other conditions by September 2024 has also not been achieved by a wide margin.

The report shows as of February, more than 1,000 patients were waiting for treatment beyond 65 weeks from the time they were referred for non-urgent conditions against a target of 18 weeks and 9,915 patients were waiting more than 52 weeks.

The total waiting list for treatment stood at 170,988 in March, with 18,317 people waiting for orthopaedic treatment, 13,627 for gynaecological conditions and 3,785 for paediatric services.

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Dr Matt Sweeting, executive medical director of Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System, said: "Patients deserve timely access to high-quality care, and I apologise to all our residents who are waiting too long for investigations and treatments, this is not where we want to be.

"As a health and care system we must continue to work collectively to reduce waiting times. While we are making positive strides across a number of key programmes of work, making sustainable inroads into waiting times will take time."