Aneurin Bevan cancer waits miss target as audit calls for lasting improvement
Only 61% of patients started cancer treatment within 62 days at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in 2025-26, according to Audit Wales, which says efforts to improve services have not yet delivered lasting progress. The national target is 75%, measured from the first suspicion of cancer to the start of first definitive treatment.
The report, published on 16 September, credits the health board with managing increasing demand without a corresponding significant worsening of waiting times. Extra clinics, filling vacancies and changes to care pathways helped with immediate pressures. But auditors said those measures had not resolved underlying capacity problems, with urology and gastrointestinal services among the areas underperforming.
Short-term work needs a longer-term plan
Auditors found that the cancer strategy for 2020-25 was out of date and that a clear, fully costed improvement plan was missing. Audit Wales wanted staffing, funding, systems and buildings brought together with specific actions, deadlines and responsibility for delivery. Progress did not give auditors confidence that the board would meet its ambition to reach the treatment target in the final quarter of 2026-27.
Spending had also increased. Cancer-services spending rose from £90 million in 2019-20 to £138 million in 2023-24. Audit Wales says the later total was £31 million above what spending would have reached if it had followed inflation. That comparison is not a finding of a budget overspend or waste.
What the health board has promised
In its published response, the board sets 31 October 2026 as the deadline for setting out improvement actions, measurable outputs and named people responsible for delivery. It sets 31 March 2027 for a new Gwent Cancer Plan, a fully costed improvement plan, a long-term workforce plan and broader performance reporting.
The board also reports that work to strengthen monitoring was completed in July 2026. It cites a strengthened Cancer Board, executive sponsorship, performance meetings and reporting to the board. Work on screening data remains ongoing. These are the board’s published commitments and account of progress, not completion independently verified by Cover.
What this audit examined
The report is dated August 2026 and examines planning, prevention and screening, leadership, performance trends and improvement arrangements. It did not assess service quality, clinical governance or patient experience, and did not audit the underlying data. Its annual waiting-time figure should not be read as a measurement of performance this September.