WHSCT posts best performance on breast cancer urgent referrals

Equally, year-on-year, there has been a reduction in the percentage of urgent breast cancer patients in the Western Trust seen within a fortnight.

According to the latest quarterly figures from the Department of Health (DoH) the Western Trust reported the highest percentage of breast cancer patients starting treatment within 14 days of an urgent referral at 82.8 per cent (692 out of 836).

This was a much higher percentage than in the South Eastern Trust (19.2 per cent), Southern (17.5 per cent) and Northern Trust (11.5 per cent), while the figures for Belfast were not complete for the quarter.

However, this time last year the Western Trust reported that in the quarter ending December 2023 it saw 99.8 per cent of urgent breast cancer patients within 14 days. The target is to see all urgent breast cancer referrals within a fortnight.

During the quarter the Western Trust dealt with 1,139 new breast cancer referrals. Of these 865 (75.9 per cent) were urgent.

Across the North as a whole, in the quarter ending December 2024, 3,512 patients were seen by a breast cancer specialist following an urgent referral, of which 31.7 per cent (1,114) were seen within 14 days. The number of patients seen increased by 1.8 per cent (63) from last quarter and decreased by 0.7 per cent (25) from the same quarter last year.

The percentage of patients seen within 14 days increased from 30 per cent in the previous quarter and decreased from 35.5 per cent in the same quarter last year.

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

Data used to report on the breast cancer activity and referrals were sourced from the Patient Administration System (PAS), an administrative system used to manage, record and monitor hospital waiting lists within Health and Social Care Trusts in the North.