Cancer Strategy progress report: Progress made but more to be done

Today the second annual progress report of the England Cancer Strategy was published. The Cancer Strategy for England was originally published in 2015 and was developed by the Independent Cancer Taskforce. It sets out a range of recommendations across the whole patient pathway that if implemented could lead to achieving world class cancer outcomes. The annual progress report outlines the progress that has been made in delivering the recommendations to date.

Deborah Alsina MBE, Chief Executive, said:

“The Cancer Strategy set out a number of welcomed ambitions and recommendations to achieve world class cancer outcomes by 2020. This included the aim to drive improvements in earlier diagnosis – many of which could have a positive impact on survival for cancer. While some progress has been made in particular areas of the Cancer Strategy, there are other areas where progress has been lacking.

We believe that not enough progress is being made fast enough on delivering workforce recommendations in the cancer strategy and we are already two years in to the strategy, with just three years remaining. The success of these recommendations rests on having the workforce capacity to deliver them. This is important because demand for endoscopy – key tests that can diagnose bowel cancer – is increasing but there is a significant lack of capacity to meet this demand. This is impacting negatively on the ability to progress and implement successfully other recommendations and policy initiatives that could result in improved outcomes and survival for bowel cancer patients.

To address this, a fully funded and comprehensive action plan to tackle the growing endoscopy crisis is urgently needed. However, repeated delays to the publication of the cancer workforce report have meant that progress has not been made. This will have a knock on effect on many other recommendations in the Strategy that rely on having an adequate workforce in place.  Sufficient staffing levels and the right mix of skills is essential to be able to implement many of the more ambitious recommendations in the Cancer Strategy.”

• Take action and call on Jeremy Hunt to commit to a fully funded action plan for endoscopy
• Find out more about our “Right test, right time” campaign
• Read our blog on “Diagnosing bowel cancer early: a service at breaking point”