BLACK and Asian people in England have to wait longer for a cancer diagnosis than white people, with some forced to wait an extra six weeks, according to an analysis of NHS waiting times.

The damning review of the world’s largest primary care database by the University of Exeter and the Guardian published today found that black and Asian patients wait longer than white patients in six of seven cancers studied.

The analysis of 126,000 cancer cases over a decade found that the median time between a white person first presenting symptoms to a GP and getting diagnosed is 55 days.

For Asian people, it is 60 days — 9 per cent longer. For black people, it is 61 days, 11 per cent longer.

Diagnosis delays may mean fewer treatment options while starting treatment later may also reduce the odds of survival.

The government and the NHS have repeatedly promised to tackle ethnic inequalities in healthcare.

Campaigners have called for serious action to understand how and why black and Asian people wait longer — and to prevent it from happening.

Race Equality Foundation chief executive Jabeer Butt said: “These findings are deeply worrying, with potential life-altering consequences for the health of black and Asian people.”

Black Activists Rising Against Cuts co-founder Zita Holbourne told the Star: “This is institutional racism and must be addressed urgently and the precise reason it happens identified.”

Researcher Tanimola Martins, from the University of Exeter, said the findings help to explain why ethnic minorities “have poorer outcomes for some cancers and report worse experiences of healthcare.”

Cancer Research UK chief executive Michelle Mitchell said that while the differences were “unlikely to be the sole explanation for the inequalities in cancer survival,” at the very least “extended wait times may cause additional stress and anxiety for ethnic minority patients.”