COLCHESTER General Hospital has handed NHS investigators access to its cancer patient records to see if they have been manipulated.

A troubleshooting team of cancer specialists led by Andrew Pike, Essex area director for NHS England, will ensure cancer patients are being treated safely.

A review of all cancer treatments from 2010 is also under way.

The Care Quality Commission, which uncovered the scandal, looked at cases dating back to 2011.

Mr Pike said: “We can nowcheck ourselves rather than relying on the hospital that waiting times aren’t being changed.”

He said an intensive support team would shortly arrive to help come up with an action plan.

Mr Pike said the full review, carried out with the Care Quality Commission, the hospital’s trust and regulator Monitor, would take several weeks.

He said: “I think we can be confident no one in Colchester will be seen in an inappropriate time.

“But I’m leaving no stone unturned, so, until I have finished all the reviews I will reserve judgment.”

Mr Pike said the North East Essex clinical commissioning group, which pays the trust to treat 6,000 cancer patients a year, had no knowledge of the scandal until it was informed by the Care Quality Commission.

He said: “It’s been going on for a couple of years – it’s disappointing it hadn’t been identified earlier.”

If a GP is concerned a patient may have cancer, they must be seen by the hospital within 14 days.

Their treatment must start within 31 days of the referral, while the primary action to battle the cancer – surgery or radiotherapy – must be started in 62 days.

Mr Pike said: “The earlier you detect a cancer, the earlier you deal with it and the more likely it is you will get a better outcome.

That’s why it’s such a concern if waiting times have been engineered.

“It’s a bad day for the NHS in Essex. Our job now is to work with the hospital and put it right.

“We will be open with the public and work tirelessly to make sure patient services and patient confidence is restored.”