The NHS Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) is a national target requiring patients referred urgently by their GP for suspected cancer to receive a diagnosis, or have cancer ruled out, within 28 days. Achieving this standard ensures that patients with cancer can begin treatment promptly, while those without cancer receive reassurance sooner.
Across the Thames Valley Integrated Care System we aim to increase the number of patients diagnosed within this 28 day time frame. This includes supporting Trusts to deliver Best Practice Timed Pathways for each cancer type, as well as a Non-Site-Specific Pathway for patients with more general symptoms that do not clearly indicate a specific cancer.
Our programme’s key priorities are to:
- streamline and standardise triage processes for urgent suspected cancer referrals, ensuring patients are directed to the appropriate clinical team as quickly as possible
- implement Single Queue Diagnostics for specialist cancer tests, improving use of diagnostic capacity and enabling patients to access the next available appointment across the Thames Valley
- review and standardise surgical pathways to reduce delays to cancer surgery