NHS ‘must continue reform to improve cancer patient treatment’

The NHS must continue with its programme of ongoing reforms if cancer patients in the UK are to receive the highest chances of survival, according to a recently published report.

Getting it right for people with cancer: The clinical case for change, notes a number of improvements in cancer treatment on the health service in recent years, recording a 520 million pound investment in specialist equipment and a 16 per cent reduction in the mortality rate of under-75s.

To continue these advancements, the paper calls for better coordination of patient care by specialist teams, the movement of simpler tests closer to patient homes, more flexible use of beds and a centralisation of more complicated services.

Professor Mike Richards, national cancer director, said: “Cancer care has improved greatly since I first qualified in the 1970s.

“Reorganisation of services over recent years has played a key part in this and will continue to do so as the changes we are making are completed.”

He added that it is vital to continue with this transformation of the health service as increased life expectancy results in rising numbers of people contracting some form of cancer.

In October 2006, the government announced funding of 17.5 million for 13 experimental cancer medicine centres in England as part of a 35 million pound programme using money from Cancer Research UK and health departments across the country.