Government announces Cancer Reform Strategy plan

The government this week announced its plans for a new cancer reform strategy, outlining its proposals at the recent Britain Against Cancer conference.

According to the plans, the new strategy will identify new factors affecting the disease in the UK, including rising rates of cancer, improvements in pharmaceuticals and medical technology and increased expectation from the public.

The strategy will recommend what further work must be done by both the NHS and cancer networks to deal with these challenges.

Patricia Hewitt, health secretary, said: “Cancer specialists, GPs, trusts and PCTs [primary care trusts] need to build on their local cancer networks to create flexible and innovative local services that respond to patients’ needs.”

She added that she had spoken with Mike Richards, national cancer director, to request that he works in collaboration with cancer specialists to develop the strategy.

Mr Richards commented that the strategy would aim to achieve high-quality care in addition to value for money for the NHS.

The British Medical Association has expressed concerns that proposals for “league tables” may result in inaccurate analysis of data, as collating mortality rates may not take into account factors such as patient age and the specific type of disease they may have.