Cancer improvements constitute Brown’s healthcare plans

Gordon Brown has outlined Labour’s plans to improve the NHS, which include building on the services offered to cancer patients in the country.

According to the prime minister, 10,000 lives could be saved every year with the earlier diagnosis of the disease, followed by specialist referral within two weeks and a one-week test results timeframe, reported Reuters.

Furthermore, Mr Brown claimed that, up to 10,000 heart attacks and strokes could be prevented annually by offering NHS health checks for all over-40s.

The plans also state that healthcare is an area that will not be forced to make budgetary cuts, but rather other departments will be taxed with reducing government expenditure.

“Our plans to reform our community and primary care services will include a commitment to deliver over the next five years dedicated nursing for all cancer patients,” the news agency quotes the prime minister as saying.

In related news, a study conducted by researchers at the University of Birmingham last month found that smokers diagnosed with lung cancer who quit the habit early on in their treatment are twice as likely to survive.