Following the death of a patient at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, the PHSO has asked the Trust to review its performance against national cancer wait time targets.

An investigation by England’s Health Ombudsman following the death of a 67-year-old woman has triggered a systemic review of cancer treatment and diagnosis wait times at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has investigated the care of a woman who was treated at the Trust’s Broomfield Hospital in 2023.

The woman had terminal ovarian cancer and died in April that year. Her son raised concerns about her care. PHSO’s subsequent investigation found there had been a delay in diagnosing and treating his mother’s cancer.

The woman’s diagnosis took 49 days, and her treatment did not start for 81 days after the referral. NHS England targets at the time were for cancer to be diagnosed within 28 days of referral and treatment to begin within 62 days. After her son complained about his mother’s treatment, the Trust said that it had improved its performance on cancer wait times. However, PHSO’s investigation found the Trust’s performance against its treatment targets had declined.

“In this case, we recommended that the Trust should investigate its performance against national targets and make a robust plan for how it will improve. The Trust has committed to carrying out this work and will be rolling out new technology to help it allocate resources more efficiently and increase capacity for cancer appointments,” said Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Paula Sussex. 

Missed all targets

In 2023, at the time that the patient was being treated, the Trust failed to meet all of the NHS England cancer wait time targets. Only 47.6% of patients were treated within 62 days, compared to the national target of 85%. By July 2025, that had dropped to 46.1%. Trust figures show that at the end of August, 664 patients were waiting longer than 62 days to confirm a cancer diagnosis, or rule it out, and begin treatment.

Following its investigation, PHSO took the step of asking the Trust to review its performance against national cancer wait time targets and develop a robust plan to help it meet treatment targets.

The Trust has now committed to look at how it can better allocate resources and increase capacity to reduce wait times. The Trust will use new technology to improve efficiency by standardising and digitising processes, and specialist software to analyse cancer pathways and identify delays.

“We have begun an integrated improvement plan, working with our health and care system partners to speed up treatment times and get patients to the right place at the right time,” said Dawn Scrafield, chief executive of Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust. 

“Cancer care is one of our key priorities, and we can already see our wait times reducing in some cancers as we deliver extra clinics and theatre scheduling,” she added.