'Cancer patients should not have to wait any longer for an Executive to be formed', says Sinn Féin Upper Bann MLA John O’Dowd.

As the latest figures were published by NISRA, Mr O’Dowd said: “With our health service currently under extreme pressure, only urgent investment can fix the problems we are facing.

"We require this immediately, not only to ensure that people are getting the care they need, but also to protect health workers and their rights,” said Mr O’Dowd.

“According to the NISRA’s staggering latest figures, less than 40 percent of patients begin treatment within 62 days on an urgent referral from a GP,” said the Upper Bann MLA.

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“For how much longer will Jeffrey Donaldson continue to sit back and do nothing with the knowledge that people are suffering on hospital waiting lists and awaiting cancer treatment?

“The DUP claim health to be a priority for them,” he said.

"If that is the case, they will work with the rest of us to form an Executive today and to invest £1 billion in the NHS to tackle these waiting lists and to help fund cancer services.”

According to NISRA, the Ministerial target was not met in any of the three months of the quarter: In June 2022, 38.9% of patients started treatment within 62 days of an urgent GP referral for suspect cancer, compared with 35.2% in May 2022, 39.4% in April 2022 and 54.2% in June 2021. The target has not been met at a regional level in the last 3 years.