Thank you to those who have contacted me about cancer research and care and the related campaign by Cancer Research UK (CRUK).
I sympathise profoundly with anyone who is affected by cancer. Improving outcomes requires action across a range of policies: in research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. I look forward to the publication of CRUK’s ‘Manifesto for Cancer Research and Care’ and its policy recommendations.
Our health service is under immense pressure. Despite the incredible efforts of staff, under the previous government cancer targets have repeatedly been missed and NHS waiting lists have risen to over seven million – the highest ever on record. The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee report into NHS backlogs finds that waiting times for cancer are “at their worst recorded level”.
We must build an NHS fit for the future – providing it with the staff, technology, resources, and reform it needs – to improve cancer care and ensure all patients get the support they need. I support a 10-year plan of reform and modernisation, harnessing technology to fight disease and transform the way we deliver care to diagnose and treat cancers sooner.
The immediate priority must be tackling waiting lists and getting patients treated faster, by increasing elective activity and utilising spare capacity in the independent sector. Longer term reform and modernisation are needed to build an NHS fit for the future, shifting the focus to prevention and early diagnosis.
I support an ambitious plan to enable the NHS to deliver an extra two million operations, scans and appointments a year, supported by an additional £1.1 billion investment to provide NHS staff overtime to work evening and weekend shifts, so procedures can be carried out. This plan comes alongside a new Fit for the Future fund; a £171 million a year investment to arm the NHS with state-of-the-art equipment and new technology to cut waiting times and speed up diagnosis and treatment. Fully funded by ending the non-dom tax status.
Taken together, the plan will ensure that 75% of all cancers are diagnosed earlier, at stages one or two, and improve survival rates by hitting all NHS cancer targets within five years, so no patient waits longer than they should.
