Hospital trust makes huge leap in cancer diagnosis
Wait times for people in Telford and across Shropshire have been slashed as the local hospital trust moves from the bottom of the league table to the top.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is now the second best performing in the country for its 28-day faster diagnosis standard. This is a massive turnaround from a year ago when the trust sat in last place.
Latest figures for November 2025 show nearly 86% of patients had cancer ruled out or diagnosed within four weeks. This exceeds the national target of 80%.
As a result of the progress, NHS England has removed the trust from its tiering oversight and support. Improvements include reducing wait times for first appointments and faster access to scans like CTs and MRIs.
Ned Hobbs, Chief Operating Officer, said: “We have made significant and sustained progress on seeing and diagnosing patients who are referred to SaTH with suspected cancer as quickly as possible. This is down to the determination of our teams to improve our 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard performance for our patients.”
Mr Hobbs added that the trust still has more to do, with the next phase focusing on reducing the time it takes to start treatment.
The second phase aims to meet the 62-day referral to treatment target. While the national standard is 85%, the trust has improved to 70.2%, climbing from 112th to 69th in the country over the last year.
Dr Andrew Cowley, Consultant and Clinical Lead for Cancer Services, said: “This is such positive news for our patients. Waiting for a diagnosis, or to have cancer ruled out, is an incredibly worrying and anxious time for patients and their loved ones.”
Dr Cowley said reducing waiting times by days in all parts of the system enabled the improvement.
The Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System also recorded the highest compliance rate in the country for November.
Work continues on the Sunflower Appeal, a £5 million project to bring a dedicated cancer treatment centre to the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford by 2029.
