PM announces new measures to tackle cancer
Thousands of lives could be saved every year under government plans to tackle cancer, the Department of Health has said.
Amid growing dissent over public health reforms, David Cameron has set out a series of measures designed to raise UK survival rates to among the best in the world.
These include increasing detection with new bowel cancer screening technology - potentially saving 3,000 lives a year - and providing new cancer therapies which could benefit 2,000 patients this year alone, the Department of Health said.
The announcement comes as the government seeks to reassure voters over its planned overhaul of the health service.
Mr Cameron insisted he was committed to “improving” the health service despite the state of Britain’s finances.
“Today we are announcing that actually we are going to be spending another £164m on cancer prevention and really updating and improving our screening provision, particularly in bowel cancer which can save 3,000 lives a year,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
“It is very important as we take the country through difficult decisions to say there are things that are so important to families, like my family, like the thousands of families watching this programme, that (we will improve them).”
He said he was committed to bringing UK cancer survival rates up to those in the best-performing European countries - potentially saving 5,000-10,000 lives a year.
“I absolutely want to close that gap and the announcement today is part of that,” he said.
Other measures set out include boosting the number of specialists involved in cancer services to 1,200 by 2012 and introducing better treatment by expanding radiotherapy capacity.
The government has also pledged to invest £43m more over the spending review period so all high-priority patients get access to proton beam therapy - an advanced form of radiotherapy which targets cancers with minimal damage to healthy tissue.
This could benefit 400 patients per year by the end of the period, it said.
The investment comes on top of another £60m which would be channelled into bowel cancer screening during the next four years, and run alongside a £10.75 million signs and symptoms campaign.
According to government estimates, the drive to raise awareness about breast, lung and bowel cancers could mean up to 500 people being diagnosed earlier, increasing the chances of successful treatment.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley said: “I want the NHS to deliver cancer survival rates comparable to the best in the world.
“We’re going to introduce an exciting new screening test for bowel cancer which could save up to 3,000 lives a year.
“We have secured the funding for a four-year roll-out and will, subject to the green light from the UK National Screening Committee, begin pilots from spring next year.”
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Readers' comments (7)
JASON MAUDE | 4-Oct-2010 11:55 am
This focus on early diagnosis in cancer is very welcome. However, early diagnosis is important in all diseases and the piece that continually seems to be missed is how do you get the GP thinking about a disease-whether its a cancer, a rare disease or any of the thousands of other diseases- when its appropriate? If the disease is not being thought about in the first place then the referral won't be made or test ordered.
It is impractical to provide them with training for recognising thousands of specific clusters of symptoms when they may only see one case a year or less.
The GP's need a diagnosis decision support tool that reminds them when it’s appropriate to consider specific diseases. These tools (such as Isabel produced by my own company http://www.isabelhealthcare.com) are readily available, validated and practical to use.
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Pauline Johnson | 4-Oct-2010 12:33 pm
Quite agree with Jason Maude. As someone who has worked for the NHS for over 35 years as a clinician and manager, and in primary care, I was dismayed recently to discover that I have bladder cancer. This was mis-diagnosed by my GP practice for 12 months, despite being over 50 and with intermittent, frank haematuria; and this is in a practice where one of the partners is a GPsWI in urology!
Not much merit in improving access to primary medical care when the GP is unaware of what they are looking at, and even more worrying to expect GPs to commission appropriate services in areas where there is sub-optimal primary care.
I despaired when I read Steve Fields's article in the HSJ saying it was not always the poor old GP's fault - well maybe not, but in all 3 instances of cancer in my immediate family, the GP was too robust in their role as gate-keeper, referring on to secondary care much too late for 2 of my relatives, but hopefully, not for me. Of course, this could be a one-off, but unfortunate coincidence, but I doubt it.
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Pauline Johnson | 4-Oct-2010 12:34 pm
Sorry - typo, should read GPwSI
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Anonymous | 4-Oct-2010 2:24 pm
Much as this is good news, please can someone tell this Government that there are many other conditions thna just cancer which need attention.
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Anonymous | 4-Oct-2010 2:26 pm
As welcome as this is, please can someone tell this government that there are other conditions and not just cancer, which need support.
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Mark Liddle | 5-Oct-2010 2:21 am
Best wishes for a full recovery Pauline.
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Charlotte Callow | 6-Oct-2010 10:02 am
Whilst I am delighted that there are "exciting" and "new" screening tests being brought in to help with early detection of bowel cancer, it is important to remember that the test is only effective if people actually have it done. Raising public awareness of the disease is paramount to early detection of bowel polyps and cancer, whether it be early or late stage, and the GPs have their part to play in this as much as any of us.
Also, best wishes to Pauline for a full recovery.
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