Publication of Northern Ireland Cancer Waiting Time Statistics: April to June 2025

Date published: 2 October 2025

This release gives details of the waiting times for patients accessing cancer services at hospitals in Northern Ireland during April, May, and June 2025.

On 9 November 2023 the South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust launched 'encompass' - a new electronic patient record system. The system also went live in Belfast Trust on 6 June 2024, in Northern Trust on 7 November 2024, and in Southern and Western Trusts on 8 May 2025. Given the relatively recent transition of Southern and Western Trusts, validated breast cancer referrals data for these Trusts were not available at the time of publication. Validated data for Belfast Trust for quarter ending June 2024, and breast cancer referrals data for this Trust for quarter ending September 2024, are also not currently available.

Data sourced from encompass are not directly comparable with legacy (pre-encompass) data sources. These figures, sourced from encompass, are considered to be 'official statistics in development', which are a subset of Official Statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. While caution must be exercised when using these figures, they are a meaningful representation of what they measure and are of sufficient quality for publication and use.

Key Facts:

Waiting times for first definitive treatment following a decision to treat (31-day target)

• In the quarter ending June 2025, 2,607 patients started treatment following a decision to treat, of which 87.9% (2,291) started treatment within 31 days. The number of patients starting treatment increased by 5.0% (125) since last quarter.
• The percentage of patients starting treatment within 31 days decreased from 88.2% in the previous quarter.

Waiting times for first definitive treatment following an urgent GP referral for suspect cancer (62-day target)

• In the quarter ending June 2025, 1,239 patients started treatment following an urgent GP referral for suspect cancer, of which 32.5% (403) started treatment within 62 days. The number of patients treated decreased by 1.7% (22) since last quarter.
• The percentage of patients starting treatment within 62 days decreased from 33.9% in the previous quarter.

Patients first seen following an urgent referral for suspect breast cancer (14-day target)

• In the quarter ending June 2025, 1,947 patients were seen by a breast cancer specialist following an urgent referral in the Belfast, Northern and South Eastern HSC Trusts, of which 6.6% (129) were seen within 14 days. The number of patients seen in these three Trusts increased by 4.1% (77) from last quarter.
• The percentage of patients seen within 14 days in the Belfast, Northern and South Eastern Trusts decreased from 9.7% in the previous quarter. Data for quarter ending March 2025 are not directly comparable, however, as quarter ending June 2025 includes the transition period from a Trust to a regional service.

Referrals for suspect breast cancer

• During the quarter ending June 2025, 3,803 referrals were received by Belfast, Northern and South Eastern HSC Trusts for suspect breast cancer, of which 85.2% (3,240) were classified as urgent.