Health bosses in Newcastle said that skin cancer cases had a ‘disproportionate impact’ on a key missed target – but work is ongoing to improve things
The Royal Victoria Infirmary hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne.(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
Hospital bosses in Newcastle are working with neighbouring NHS trusts and health service commissioners to tackle delays in skin cancer diagnosis. Health chiefs at the city’s hospitals said that the issue had a “disproportionate” impact on meeting key targets.
Figures shared at a board meeting on Friday March 27 showed that, when it comes to the 28-day “faster diagnosis standard”, in December 2025 just 67.7% of patients with a suspected cancer received a diagnosis – or had cancer ruled out – in that time period.
The target is 80%, but this has not been met since May last year. Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust bosses – who run the Freeman and RVI hospitals – said this was largely due pressures on skin cancer care last summer, though areas such as breast cancer are also under pressure.
As skin cancer cases often see a questionable lesion both diagnosed and removed on the same day, there has been no impact on a second target – that a first “definitive” cancer treatment takes place within 62 days. For skin cancer, this figure is 86.5% – though for all cancers it is just 66.7% and had “deteriorated” in January.
Breast cancer services, bosses said, had been affected by the knock-on impact of failings at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust. This is due to the “redistribution of work and workforce” to support that trust’s services.
In last week’s meeting, discussing the skin cancer issue, acting trust chief executive Rob Harrison said: “We are working with the ICB and the [NHS] region on what we can do next year to get into a much more stable position. We are looking at where we can work with primary care and where we can expand services.”
The trust’s director of performance, governance and information Patrick Garner added: “We are working with the Northern Cancer Alliance and the ICB particularly around the skin cancer pathway which has a disproportionate impact on our [faster diagnosis standard] performance.
“There is work with our neighbour in Northumbria – but also the ICB is particularly looking at what support can be provided, especially in primary care.”
He said the work would see greater resources allocated by the NHS Integrated Care Board so suspected skin cancers can be investigated in primary care settings.
In a report submitted to the board by joint medical directors Dr Lucia Pareja-Cebrian and Dr Michael Wright, they added: “The deterioration in compliance against target in the 28-day faster diagnosis pathways is largely still driven by deterioration in this measure within the skin pathway. Skin referrals make up nearly 50% of patients on this pathway and therefore shifts in performance in this group have a disproportionate effect on overall performance.
“Clinical triage is ongoing to identify the highest risk patients and because many of the patients are biopsied and treated same day (i.e. lesion removed as both diagnostic and therapeutic procedure) compliance at 62 days remains strong in skin and outcomes for patients are good. There have been no cases of harm due to delay beyond 104 days recorded for skin cancer in the last 18 months.”
In terms of breast cancer services, the joint medical directors added: “This is driven in large part by redistribution of work and workforce to support the breast care service at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT).
“There has been an increase in referrals to our breast team (11.5% increase in September 2025 -January 2026; approximately 230 extra referrals). Work is ongoing to confirm the origin of these referrals and understand the change and whether we need to anticipate this as a long-term impact. In addition, some clinical radiology time has been provided in CDDFT and it has not been possible to fully backfill this at Newcastle Hospitals.”
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