EAST Cheshire NHS Trust bosses are failing to meet patient waiting times in the diagnosis of bowel cancer.

The findings cover 34 hospitals across the north of England and Yorkshire and the Humber, who have failed to meet the NHS standard of less than one per cent of patients waiting six weeks or more for two tests that could diagnose bowel cancer.

East Cheshire NHS Trust had a total waiting list of 410 patients, for colonoscopy test, of which 91 (22 per cent), were waiting six weeks or more at Macclesfield Hospital.

The trust also had a total waiting list of 80 patients for flexible sigmoidoscopy, of which 11 (13.8 per cent), were waiting six weeks or more for the test.

Bowel Cancer UK who issued a statement with the figures, said the waiting times published by NHS England was further evidence that demand for diagnostic tests are outstripping capacity.

Asha Kaur, head of policy and campaigns at Bowel Cancer UK said: “These waiting time figures present a worrying picture for patients and demonstrates the urgent need for the Government to make addressing this crisis a national priority. If hospitals are expected to meet waiting time targets then they must be given the resources and capacity to enable them to meet these standards.

“The Government must get to grips with tackling this problem. It is crucial urgent progress is made as increasing demand for services is putting hospitals under unprecedented pressure because they simply do not have the capacity to meet this demand.

“Rather than rhetoric, what we need is a comprehensive action plan to finally deal with this long-standing crisis in diagnostic services for bowel cancer. Simply ignoring it won’t make it go away.”

In a response Kath Senior, director of nursing, performance and quality at East Cheshire NHS Trust said: "Our absolute priority is patient safety and we can confirm that no patient referred on a cancer pathway has waited more than six weeks for colonoscopy. The figures are for routine referrals for diagnostic tests.

"It is also important to note that the trust's performance against overall national cancer standards remains very good, with over 98 per cent of patients with suspected cancer being seen within two weeks of referral and 96 per cent receiving cancer treatment within 62 days of GP suspected cancer referral in up to date figures for 2017/18. This is measured against an 85 per cent operational standard.

“In line with trust policy, the patients waiting more than six weeks for a colonoscopy are being individually monitored and prioritised according to clinical need.

"The current waiting times for routine colonoscopy are closely monitored. In recent weeks the trust has experienced a temporary shortfall in capacity for routine colonoscopy which has led to a short term increase in waiting times for some patients. A plan is in place to return performance to normal levels as a matter of urgency.”