WE'LL SAVE 500,000 MORE LIVES VOWS NHS
Ten-year plan targets childhood cancer, heart disease and strokes ++ But already Chancellor warns: We MUST cut waste
All children with cancer will be offered treatment tailored to their DNA as part of NHS plans to save more than 500,000 lives. The world-first promise is unveiled today in a longawaited ten-year blueprint for the health service.
It follows Theresa May’s pledge to hand the NHS an extra £20billion, but writing in the Daily Mail today Chancellor Philip Hammond warns the health service must drastically improve efficiency to ensure the cash isn’t wasted. Mr Hammond, who had reservations over supplying the money, says: ‘The public hates waste in the NHS and quite
rightly want to know that their taxes are spent effectively, to deliver excellent frontline services to patients.’
It is a sign of the lingering tensions between No 10 and the Treasury over the issue, with some worried about repeating the waste of the New Labour years.
Health chiefs want to make the NHS a world leader at fighting killer diseases like cancer and heart disease.
As part of this it will also carry out genetic testing to identify patients with an inherited condition that gives them dangerously high levels of cholesterol.
The latest artificial intelligence technology will also be brought in to help stroke patients and to ensure they get the right treatment quickly. At the same time, digital GP consultations – on smartphones or tablets – will be made available to everyone who wants them as officials try to slash long waits for appointments.
The Prime Minister and NHS leaders will reveal the full details of the NHS blueprint at an event in Liverpool today. NHS chiefs believe it will save half a million lives over the next decade.
One of the most eye-catching measures is the move to offer whole genome sequencing to around 1,800 seriously-ill children a year with cancer or rare genetic conditions to develop more personalised medicines. Patients will be asked to consent for their genomes data – complete DNA sequences – to be analysed to develop new tests and treatments for cancer and other diseases. Last night, Emma Greenwood, of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘Being able to offer children with cancer gene testing as part of their care means more children will benefit from better access to precision medicines.’
When it comes to using artificial intelligence to diagnose when someone has had a stroke, researchers say that this technology can help clinicians to administer the best treatment to patients more quickly in emergency settings, predict a person’s likelihood of developing dementia and potentially pave the way for more personalised medicine. Yesterday, Mrs May said despite the NHS repeatedly missing key waiting times targets, she was confident the plan will ‘provide the best possible care for every major condition, from cradle to grave’. Preventing ill health in the first place will also be key to reducing pressures on the NHS, leaders warn, with patients encouraged to adopt healthier lifestyles. Exercise and healthy living programmes will be rolled out to 100,000 people with heart complaints, potentially saving 23,000 people from dying prematurely.
Hospital staff will be told to target problem drinkers, offer counselling to patients who are smokers and encourage those at risk of Type 2 diabetes to take preventative action.
Britain’s survival rates for cancer are among the worst in Europe, with late diagnosis needlessly costing thousands of lives a year. But health bosses are confident they can turn this around and increase early diagnosis rates from just 52 per cent now to 75 per cent within a decade.
Tens of thousands more doctors and nurses have been promised to alleviate current shortages, although a full workforce plan won’t be revealed until later this year.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said the plan ‘tackles head on’ the pressures faced by health staff. He said: ‘It keeps all that’s good about our health service and its place in our national life… and it sets a practical, costed, phased route map for the NHS’s priorities for care quality and outcomes improvement for the decade ahead.’
But Dr Nick Scriven, of the Society for Acute Medicine, said he was ‘staggered’ that the key priorities overlooked emergency care and hospital capacity. He said the ‘lack of acknowledgement of how we effectively tackle the eternal winter in the NHS and its associated problems is indicative of how acute and emergency care is the poor relation when it comes to priorities.’