Bid To Make England's Cancer Care 'World Class'

Cancer specialists have set out an ambitious plan to save the lives of an extra 30,000 patients in England every year.

The Independent Cancer Taskforce sets strategic priorities that would transform NHS services by 2020 and ensure the chances of surviving the disease are among the best in the world.

In a report commissioned by NHS England, the taskforce warns one in two people will develop cancer and services are under "unprecedented pressure".

Harpal Kumar, who chaired the taskforce, said England is "on the path" to a "world class" cancer service.

"But we are a long way from where we should be," he added.

"Our expectation is that the Government and NHS will now make the investments required and implement this strategy with commitment and speed."

The report says far more needs to be done to prevent cancer in the first place.

Four out of 10 cases are caused by lifestyle, particularly smoking and obesity.

The report calls on the Government to introduce a tobacco control policy to reduce adult smoking rates from 18% to 13% by 2020.

And it also sets the NHS a tough target by 2020 of giving 95% of patients a definitive diagnosis within four weeks of them going to their GP, so more are diagnosed at an early stage when survival chances are far higher.

It says this could be achieved by GPs reducing the threshold for testing patients with possible cancer symptoms, and giving them direct access to tests such as CT scans without a referral to a hospital consultant.

That would increase testing by around 80% and the report warns more staff and machines will be needed to cope with the workload.

As many as 126 radiotherapy machines will also need to be replaced with the latest models to improve outcomes.

In all, the cost of the plan is likely to amount to around £400m.

But Harpal Kumar said savings further down the line would "substantially" exceed that.

"The cost of treating early stage bowel cancer is £3,400. If it is diagnosed at a late stage, the cost rises to £12,500 and the survival chances are lower."

Cancer diagnoses are predicted to rise from 280,000 a year at present to 360,000 by 2030. Around 130,000 a year still die, despite improvements in survival.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, accepted the recommendations.

"We can do this without breaking the bank," he said.

"It is going to take an expansion in the workforce, new ways of working and extra investment.

"But as well as improving your likelihood of surviving cancer it actually costs the health service less if cancer is diagnosed early."

Dr Richard Roope, of Cancer Research UK, said: "The health system is about to face the 'perfect storm' - an ageing and growing population and worsening lifestyles.

"If both the NHS and the public at large don't seize this moment and change, we'll be overwhelmed in the coming years with more people being diagnosed with more cancers, and diagnosed too late."