Cancer Research UK said over 300,000 patients in England won't begin treatment on schedule over the next five years if the Government does not improve cancer waiting times performance, up from 30,000 in the first six months of this year.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘The health and social care secretary's pledge to meet cancer wait time targets by the end of this parliament is encouraging, and we look forward to working with the UK Government to achieve this. But there's no easy fix to this problem. We need to see long-term planning that provides the NHS with the equipment and staff it needs.'

The charity's analysis suggests there will be around 3.75m urgent cancer referrals in England in 2029, up by 21% from 3.1m in 2023.

In the first six months of this year just 65% of patients were treated within the Government's deadline of 62 days against, below the 85% target which has not been met since December 2015.

One study has estimated that a four-week delay to cancer surgery led to a 6-8% increased risk of dying and delays can also reduce the treatment options that are available.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘Lord Darzi's independent investigation found that cancer is more likely to be a death sentence for NHS patients than patients in other countries.

‘This is completely unacceptable and why we are taking action to turn the NHS around, so cancer patients are diagnosed and treated on time. As part of our 10-year plan to radically reform our broken NHS, we will fight cancer on all fronts – through prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and research – to give people the care they need.'