National Cancer Plan for England unveiled
The National Cancer Plan details the government’s plan to transform cancer care and outcomes in England by 2035.
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have published the National Cancer Plan for England. The policy paper outlines sweeping reforms to how cancer is diagnosed and treated, with the overarching goal of ensuring that 3 out of 4 people diagnosed with cancer survive for 5 years or more by 2035.
Key focuses include:
- Accelerated diagnostics: A £2.3 billion investment will deliver 9.5 million additional tests by 2029 – investing in more scanners, digital technology and automated testing.
- Prevention-first approach: Tobacco use, unhealthy diet, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption and excessive UV exposure. The Government are proposing to pass the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, meaning no one born on or after 1 January 2009, will be able to legally buy tobacco. Obesity will be tackled through accelerating GLP-1 medicine uptake, mandatory health reporting and new healthy standards for large food and drink retailers. Catch-up HPV vaccinations will also be rolled out to tackle cervical cancer.
- Technology integration: The number of robot-assisted procedures will increase from 70,000 to half a million by 2035, across all surgery types. The government has also announced a new AI pilot to help detect hard-to-reach lung cancers sooner with fewer invasive tests. Additionally, every patient who could benefit will be offered genomic testing to help personalize treatment.
- Specialized care networks: More patients with rarer cancers will have their care reviewed and treated at specialist cancer centres, which have in-house multidisciplinary expertise.
- Efficiency improvements for waiting lists: New technology is being developed to give patients better access to tests for cancer by offering them the earliest available appointment from a range of NHS organizations in their local area.
- Patient-centered support: Every patient will be given a tailored plan covering treatment, mental health and employment support.
- Pediatric focus: A Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce has been established and £10 million a year has been allocated to support children’s travel costs for cancer care.
In light of these ambitious goals, it should be noted that the NHS has not met its central cancer performance target - that 85% of patients start treatment within 62 days of referral – since 2014 and survival rates for certain cancer types lag behind countries including Romania, Croatia and Poland.
The Government propose that their investment and modernization of the NHS will ensure it can meet all three cancer of their waiting time standards; 80% of patients getting a diagnosis or all-clear within 28 days of an urgent suspected cancer referral, 96% of patients starting treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat and the 62-day standard referral.
There have been previous national strategies to tackle cancer, the Labour Party states within their plan that “unlike those previous strategies, this is not a plan limited to incremental improvement within the confines of an obsolete care model. Instead, it’s a plan to take the 10 Year Health Plan’s 3 shifts, and the new care model they combine, to create – and hardwire it into cancer pathways.”