Doctors are being urged to cut costs by slashing the number of patients they send for cancer tests, a charity warns.
GPs are being told by NHS bosses to reduce referral rates despite wanting more patients screened in the hope that the disease will be picked up at an earlier stage.
A report by Cancer Research UK says waiting times for treatment are at their highest in four years.
Almost 10,000 waited at least two months from being referred by their GP to surgery, medication or chemotherapy in the first half of 2014.
This means the NHS has breached its target of ensuring that 85 per cent of patients are treated within this time frame – it now stands at 84.4 per cent.
The charity warns that the cash-strapped health service is struggling to cope with the rising numbers with cancer.
More than 331,000 Britons were diagnosed with the disease last year, up by a quarter compared with the 1970s.
The report warns that unless the NHS invests more money in cancer, waiting times will rise further – which could lead to a drop in survival rates.
Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: ‘In many ways, NHS cancer services have held up remarkably well.
‘Staff have bravely dug-in and done their best in the face of overwhelming change, increased demand, squeezed budgets and fragmented leadership. But that cannot continue indefinitely.
'More people are surviving cancer than ever before – survival rates in the UK have doubled in the last 40 years because research is delivering better diagnosis and treatments.
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