What is a 2 week wait?
🩺 1. Two-Week Wait (2WW) – Historic Target
What it was: If your GP urgently suspected cancer, the NHS aimed to see you in hospital (first appointment) within 14 days of referral. This was called the Two-Week Wait (“2WW”) standard.
Status now: This target has been removed as an official performance standard (from 1 October 2023) and replaced with the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard (below).
In practice, people and clinicians still sometimes refer to the pathway as “2WW,” but the official obligation to meet a 14-day appointment time is no longer a measured target.
👉 Key point: The 2WW target is no longer used to judge NHS performance — instead the focus is on diagnosing or ruling out cancer within 28 days.
📅 2. Faster Diagnosis Standard (28-Day Standard)
What it is: The NHS now targets that at least 75 % of people referred urgently with suspected cancer should receive a **confirmed diagnosis or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of referral.
This replaces the older focus on just getting a first appointment quickly and instead emphasises speed to diagnosis or all-clear rather than just a first assessment.
⚕️ 3. 31-Day Treatment Target
What it is: Once a decision to treat cancer has been agreed (i.e., confirmed diagnosis and treatment plan agreed with clinician), the NHS aims for at least 96 % of patients to **start their first cancer treatment within 31 days of that decision.
✔ This applies to all cancer patients after treatment decision — surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, etc.
⏱️ 4. 62-Day (Two-Month) Treatment Target
What it is: From the point of an urgent GP referral (suspected cancer) — or an urgent screening referral or consultant upgrade — the goal is that at least 85 % of patients should have **started their first definitive cancer treatment within 62 days.
📍 This remains the main long-range target for timely treatment after referral
