ONE in five cancer patients in Oxfordshire are waiting too long for vital treatment, new Government figures have shown.

The Department of Health says 85 per cent of cancer patients should get their first course of treatment within 62 days of being referred by their GP.

However, our hospitals only managed to treat 79.6 per cent of its 565 patients on time – leaving 116 patients waiting for courses of therapy, or surgery.

It emerged a task force had been pulled into the county’s hospitals to sort out the problem as managers admitted they needed to improve.

Last night, a prostate cancer sufferer said men in the county got a “raw deal” after it emerged figures for treatment were worst of all.

Figures show out of 140 men diagnosed with prostate cancer, 35 were not given treatment within the agreed time by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust.

By contrast, nearly 98 per cent of breast cancer patients were treated within 62 days.

Last night, the ORH, which runs the John Radcliffe and the Churchill Hospitals in Headington, and the Horton in Banbury, admitted it was failing Oxfordshire patients.

Andrew Stevens, the ORH’s director of planning and information, said it needed to improve administration systems, and make better use of trust resources, which include the new £29m Cancer Centre, opened last year.

He added: “We are currently having difficulty meeting our cancer waiting times.

“We accept that we need to improve our cancer performance, so that it matches other high-quality aspects of our service.

“There has been a steady rise in suspected cancer referrals, and we need to improve our performance so that we can keep up with this increase.”

Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital met the 85 per cent target and Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Swindon saw 90 per cent of patients on time. Former Territorial Army soldier Simon Lord, 51, was told he had cancer of the prostate gland in July.

Seventy-one days after his diagnosis, Mr Lord was still waiting for his treatment to start.

The father-of-three said: “Prostate cancer and breast cancer claim a very similar amount of victims each year.

“But if you tell a woman her husband has the same chance of being struck down with prostate cancer as she does breast cancer, most would not know that.

“I do not blame the breast cancer campaigners at all. I think they have done a great job raising the profile. But we need to do something similar for men’s cancer.

“Traditionally, men don’t talk about their health, and I don’t think enough is known about prostate cancer.

“Broadly speaking, men in Oxfordshire are getting a raw deal.”

The ORH called in help in the summer in a bid to hit the targets, although last night it could not say exactly what was causing the delays.

Mr Stevens added: “It’s not trust policy to discriminate between types of cancer.

“However, we accept that performance between specialties does currently vary, and needs to improve in some areas.”

John Neate, the Prostate Cancer Charity’s chief executive, said the problem had been around for a long time.

He added: “Historically, prostate cancer has suffered from a legacy of neglect, with low levels of public awareness.

“Although there is evidence that awareness levels are rising, there is still a huge amount of misunderstanding.”

Across the UK, between 35,000 and 40,000 people are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year and a similar amount find out they have breast cancer.