In the Guardian to today:

NHS England on track to miss key cancer treatment target by 10,000 patients – Exclusive: 2,850 more patients a month would need to be treated within 62 days to meet March 2027 goal, as experts warn of failure of leadership. Mark Lawler, a professor of digital health and chair in translational cancer genomics at Queen’s University Belfast, believes failures of accountability and focus are to blame. He said: “The whole system is being held together by goodwill glue alone. Lack of leadership is derailing efforts to improve cancer survival. Unless there is accountability for these failures by the NHS, a radical change in mindset and a focus on the basics, we will miss hitting treatment targets for another decade.”

Nearly 10,000 more cancer patients in England will not be treated on time because the government will fail to meet its targets, amid a failure of leadership, focus and resource, experts have warned.

The NHS set an interim target to treat 80% of cancer patients within 62 days of urgent referral or consultant upgrade by March 2027. But with little more than 100 days to go, the proportion of patients starting treatment on time in September was 70.7%, down from 71.9% in August, NHS figures show.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/nov/14/nhs-england-62-day-cancer-treatment-target-by-10000-patients

See that interim target of 80%? That’s new and reduced in a pathetic effort to hit it/ The target in Scotland remains 95%. Classic Labour – If public services fail to hit targets, make things seem better by just reducing the target.

So, if Scotland adopted the 80% target that NHS England still cannot hit, how would it do? How many more extra patients would need to be treated on time each month to hit 80%

About 96 extra patients per month.

Using the latest Public Health Scotland data (April–June 2026 / Q2 2026):

• Eligible patients on the 62-day pathway: 4,492 in the quarter (~1,497 per month)
• Currently treated within 62 days: 73.6% → ~3,306 patients in the quarter (~1,102 per month)
• Needed to hit an 80% target: 80% of 4,492 = 3,594 patients in the quarter (~1,198 per month)

Shortfall

• Quarterly: ~288 extra patients
• Monthly: ~96 extra patients

This follows the same method used in the Guardian/Radiotherapy UK analysis for England (assuming patient volumes stay roughly constant). Scotland is already much closer to an 80% target

So all Scotland needs to do is to treat 96 extra patients per month.

All things being equal you’d expect England to need to do 10 to 11 times as many more, say 1 000, but it has 2 850 three times as many to do.