Javid seeks views on 10-year plan to improve cancer care
SAJID JAVID will announce a call for evidence on a new 10year Government plan to improve England’s cancer care after 50,000 fewer diagnoses were made across the UK during the pandemic.
The Health Secretary is set to repeat promises to wage a “national war on cancer” in a speech introducing the proposals at the Francis Crick Institute today.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the plan would aim to boost the cancer workforce and increase research into technologies which help to detect the disease in its early stages.
It will also seek to tackle inequalities in healthcare across the country, including diagnosis times, and to improve prevention by addressing well-known risk factors such as smoking.
The call for evidence will be used to inform a final strategy expected later this year, which ministers hope will make England’s cancer care system “the best in Europe”.
Launching today and running for eight weeks, it is open to the
public and seeks input from cancer patients, their relatives and NHS workers.
Mr Javid is set to call for a “searching new vision” on how to “lead the world on cancer care”, as he unveils the plans.
“This plan will show how we are learning the lessons from the pandemic, and apply them to improving cancer services over the next decade,” he is expected to say.
“It will take a far-reaching look at how we want cancer care to be in 2032 – 10 years from now. Looking at all stages, from prevention, to diagnosis, to treatment and vaccines.
“We want to hear views from far and wide to help us shape this work. Please join us in this effort, so fewer people face the heartache of losing a loved one to this wretched disease.”
It comes after there were 50,000 fewer cancer diagnoses across the UK since the start of the pandemic, risking an increase in advanced cases which are harder to treat.
The Health Secretary announced he wanted to launch a “war on cancer” in January, when he told MPs the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed “huge health disparities in this country”.
“It’s time we launched a war on cancer and I’m working on a new vision to radically improve the outcome of cancer patients across the UK,” he said.
A far-reaching look at how we want cancer care to be, looking at all stages. Health Secretary Sajid Javid.