Publication of Northern Ireland Cancer Waiting Times Statistics: October to December 2024Publication of Northern Ireland Cancer Waiting Times Statistics: October to December 2024

Date published: 3 April 2025

This release gives details of the waiting times for patients accessing cancer services at hospitals in Northern Ireland during October, November, and December 2024.

*** On 9 November 2023 the South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust launched 'encompass' - a new electronic patient record system. The system also went live in Belfast HSC Trust on 6 June 2024 and in Northern HSC Trust on 7 November 2024, and its rollout across the other Trusts will continue in 2025. No validated data for Belfast Trust for the quarter ending June 2024, and no breast cancer referrals data for this Trust for the quarter ending September 2024, were available at the time of publication.

Data for South Eastern, Belfast and Northern HSC Trusts are not directly comparable with the other Trusts. These figures, sourced from encompass, are considered to be 'official statistics in development', which are a subset of Official Statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. While caution must be exercised when using these figures, they are a meaningful representation of what they measure and are of sufficient quality for publication and use. ***

Key Facts

Target data for the HSC Trusts have been revised due to the ongoing development and evaluation of data sourced from encompass.

Waiting times for first definitive treatment following a decision to treat (31-day target)

• In the quarter ending December 2024, 2,940 patients started treatment following a decision to treat, of which 87.5% (2,573) started treatment within 31 days. The target was not achieved at a regional level. The number of patients starting treatment increased by 3.4% (98) since last quarter and increased by 2.5% (72) from the same quarter last year.
• The percentage of patients starting treatment within 31 days decreased from 87.9% in the previous quarter and decreased from 88.3% in the same quarter last year.

Waiting times for first definitive treatment following an urgent GP referral for suspect cancer (62-day target)

• In the quarter ending December 2024, 1,445 patients started treatment following an urgent GP referral for suspect cancer, of which 37.9% (547) started treatment within 62 days. The number of patients treated increased by 4.5% (62) since last quarter and increased by 7.4% (99) since the same quarter last year.
• The percentage of patients starting treatment within 62 days increased from 32.9% in the previous quarter and increased from 29.9% in the same quarter last year.

Patients first seen following an urgent referral for suspect breast cancer (14-day target)

• In the quarter ending December 2024, 3,512 patients were seen by a breast cancer specialist following an urgent referral, of which 31.7% (1,114) were seen within 14 days. The number of patients seen increased by 1.8% (63) from last quarter and decreased by 0.7% (25) from the same quarter last year.
• The percentage of patients seen within 14 days increased from 30.0% in the previous quarter and decreased from 35.5% in the same quarter last year.

Referrals for suspect breast cancer

• In the quarter ending December 2024, 6,253 referrals were received by HSC Trusts for suspect breast cancer, of which 76.7% (4,797) were classified as urgent.