Key Summary
- Data shows a national decline in timely cancer diagnosis.
- Across England, only 55 percent of patients received a diagnosis within 28 days in late 2025, a significant drop from 62.5 percent in April 2021.
- Prostate cancer diagnosis was mere 28.1 percent from October to December 2025.
Timely cancer diagnosis rates of the NHS have worsened over the past five years and there is a huge variation between the best and worst performing hospitals, according to a BMJ study.
Across England, 55 percent of people with cancer were given a diagnosis within 28 days, a target set by the NHS, in the last three months of 2025, down from 62.5 percent in April 2021.
In some hospitals, only fewer than a third of cancer patients are diagnosed within the 28-day target.
Official figures show that Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust detected just 24 percent of cancer cases during this period, with three out of four patients getting outside it. Northampton General Hospital Trust led the table with 42 percent getting diagnosed within the standard time frame.
A recent report by Cancer Research UK estimated that one person in the UK has cancer diagnosed every 80 seconds - 403 000 people a year - and it warned that the NHS was struggling to cope with the rising demand.
According to The Telegraph, from October to December 2025, 70.2 percent people with skin cancer got diagnosed within 28 days, whereas for prostrate cancer it was mere 28.1 percent.
It was 67.4 percent for breast cancer, 60 percent for lung cancer and 55.6 percent for bowel cancer.
