The number of people diagnosed with cancer in the UK continues to grow and for the first time the number of annual new cases has passed 400,000. For many people, one of the most difficult parts of that journey is not the diagnosis itself, but the waiting that comes before it. Being referred for tests can immediately raise the possibility of something serious, yet at that stage nothing is confirmed. Most people who are referred for urgent cancer tests will not go on to receive a cancer diagnosis, with only around 5–7% of urgent referrals resulting in cancer being found, but that does little to lessen the uncertainty or emotional drain of those days and weeks in limbo.

That uncertainty is highly personal to me. In my early 30s, I was recalled after a cervical screening, and two decades later I experienced the same fear again after breast screening. On both occasions, I was fortunate: the service moved quickly, with compassion, dignity and speed. But I still remember how long those waiting days felt, and how much emotional energy they consumed. My experience, together with the evidence, leaves me deeply concerned about the toll that diagnostic uncertainty takes on people and families, and why timely, well-managed pathways matter so much.

I read the recently published Cancer in the UK report with great interest. It is clear that beating cancer at scale will depend not simply on prevention and research, but also on data-led transformation of cancer pathways, earlier intervention, better use of diagnostic capacity, and more consistent performance management across the system.

The report highlights six key system challenges, all of which Insource is currently helping its NHS customers overcome.

1. Earlier diagnosis and pathway visibility

Cancer Research UK shows that people have a much better chance of surviving cancer when it is found early. For example, five-year survival rates are far higher for breast, bowel and lung cancer when these cancers are diagnosed at an early stage rather than a late one. Put simply, earlier diagnosis can save lives.

Five year survival rates – early vs late diagnosis

Our Patient Pathway Plus – Cancer Pathway Management (PP+ CPM) solution helps NHS organisations transform cancer pathway management by looking forwards rather than backwards, supporting patients to move as quickly as possible along their intended pathways.

The key is making the full patient pathway visible, from referral through to the day of treatment, powered by automated, unified data. This gives teams real-time, auditable pathway insight, reduces time spent gathering data and producing reports, and creates more time to improve pathway conformance and address the root causes of delays and bottlenecks.

2. Reducing waiting times and operational pressure

By embedding NHS Cancer Waiting Times standards and optimal pathway logic into operational tools, we provide the insight needed to identify bottlenecks, spot emerging pressures early, and support timely action and escalation by managers and clinicians. The application does not create change on its own. It enables better decisions and more effective operational management to help reduce waiting times.

“A system that is quite beyond what I was expecting when we first started… it is revolutionary and transformational… definitely helping me look and see where I need to push my team.”
Susan Groom, Director of Regional Services at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

NHSGGC, Scotland’s largest NHS Board and cancer centre, went live with PP+ CPM on 27 May 2024, with all new Urgent Suspicion of Cancer referrals tracked in the system from that date. One hundred days later, the number of ongoing diagnosed cancer waits over 100 days began to fall, reducing by 42% over the following four weeks. The change came from teams having the visibility to identify risk earlier, focus effort where it would have greatest impact, and take timely action.

By bringing pathway data together into flexible worklists and clear operational views, PP+ CPM helps cancer tracking staff, managers and clinicians prioritise interventions, manage risk proactively, and escalate issues before delays become embedded.

Read the NHSGGC case study.

3. Turning national ambition into local delivery

In their report, CRUK highlights the gap between national strategy and local implementation.

PP+ CPM automatically processes and standardises disparate data to create a Unified Data Layer (UDL), providing a trusted, auditable foundation for local, regional and national reporting simultaneously.

This supports boards and trusts to meet national waiting-time standards and supports sub-national planning, while giving frontline teams the operational tools they need day to day. Insource enables NHS organisations to have a golden thread of data that is collected once and used many times.

4. Tackling variation and inequality

The UDL provides unified, trusted data that makes variation and inequality visible. The data can be analysed in numerous ways, including by medical practice, tumour type, geography, deprivation and travel burden. This enables services to understand and address unwarranted variation and health inequalities.

PP+ CPM is highly configurable and adaptable, enabling it to align with national and local requirements, including the different waiting-times rules across the four nations. It delivers each user and team the contextualised information that their role requires and makes lower-volume pathways, such as HPB, visible in the same way as higher-volume pathways.

5. Supporting research, trials and innovation

Cancer research and clinical trials have had such a vital impact on improving survival rates and will continue to do so into the future.

Through the analysis of clean, consistent pathway data, provided in the UDL and displayed in Patient Lists, organisations are better able to identify eligible patients for clinical trials and research. With our help NHS trusts and boards can reduce manual effort for clinical and administrative teams and support effective recruitment of patients onto clinical trials.

6. Building sustainable capability

Rather than relying on manual spreadsheets and retrospective reports, Insource brings together data from multiple systems to provide new insight and support prospective, scenario-based planning for demand, capacity, workforce and diagnostics.

This will be essential if the health system is to respond effectively to rising cancer incidence over the next decade.

Accurate, real-time cancer data can do more than inform decisions. Used well, it can help services act sooner, reduce delays and improve the speed of diagnosis and outcomes for patients.

At Insource, we are well placed to support the NHS in addressing these system challenges by providing the data, pathway intelligence and operational tools needed to turn ambition into measurable impact.

If you would like to find out more about how we can help improve cancer pathways and reduce waiting times in your NHS organisation, please get in touch.