New Government figures show the cancer waiting-time target has now been missed for five consecutive quarters.

 The news comes after the Government published a document in the final minutes of the 2010-2015 Parliament admitting that the cancer target is not expected to be met until March 2016.

Andy Burnham, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:

“David Cameron promised to improve cancer care, but under his government the cancer treatment target has been missed again and again and again. That means more people waiting longer for vital treatment, with over 20,000 people waiting longer than two months to start cancer treatment in the last year alone.

“David Cameron was not straight with people at the election on the NHS. In the dying minutes of the last Parliament his government tried to sneak out a document admitting that the cancer treatment target won’t be met for another year.

“He is trying to tell people the NHS is safe in his hands, but the reality is the health service is in deep trouble and going backwards fast.”