Cancer services in England have ‘lost momentum’

A report by the Public Accounts Committee has shown that the drive to improve cancer care in England has lost momentum over the last 24 months and the NHS needs to adapt in order to cope with the demand.

The report said that the NHS had reduced resources and was struggling to meet waiting time standards, and while UK cancer survival rates were improving, they were poor when compared to the rest of Europe.

NHS England has said that it is working on a new five year strategy.

The report, which was published on the back of evidence from several cancer charities and experts, looked into how much progress had been made in the improvement of cancer services in England.

Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge, said “With more than one in three people developing cancer in their lifetime, cancer touches the lives of all of us at some point, and the Department of Health spends over £6.7bn on cancer services a year.

“That is why it is so concerning that the Department of Health and NHS England have lost momentum in the drive to improve cancer services in the last two years.

“More and more people are getting cancer but the resources available to support improvement have gone down.”

Despite a good record in the improvement of cancer care, the report said that progress had dipped in recent times, with, for example, cancer waiting time targets being missed.

Sean Duffy, national clinical director for cancer at NHS England, said more people than ever before were being helped to survive cancer, but he accepted that it was time to take “a fresh look at how we can do even better across the whole patient journey. That is why we have already established an independent taskforce to develop a new cancer strategy for the next five years.”

The taskforce, which was announced in January by NHS England, will focus on faster diagnosis, better prevention and an improvement in treatment and care.

Sarah Woolnough, executive director of policy at Cancer Research UK, said “It is depressing that too many patients are waiting longer than they should for their diagnosis and effective treatment.

“We hope the report will urgently catalyse NHS England, the Department of Health and others charged with providing cancer care to deliver the best for all patients, no matter their age, the cancer they suffer from or where they live.

“All patients deserve the best treatment and care and many are currently not receiving it.”

Chadwick Lawrence’s specialist team of clinical negligence lawyers have years of experience in Medical negligence compensation claims, and have obtained substantial compensation for our clients. Not only do we represent clients in Yorkshire, but because of our reputation we also represent clients nationally.

If you believe that you or a relative may have been injured as a result of clinical/Medical negligence, please call for free legal advice from our Medical negligence solicitors on the freephone number below.

Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Freephone : 0800 028 2969