One in three of us will get cancer, so the NHS has made treating the condition a key focus of its five-year improvement plan. The program started two years ago and signs of success are already starting to show.
Our unhealthy habits and ageing population mean that cancer rates are bound to rise as age is the highest risk factor for that group of diseases. Cancer incidence rates in the UK are projected to rise by 2% between 2014 and 2035 to 742 cases per 100,000 people, according to Cancer Research UK.
The health service is countering this crisis by investing heavily in screening and earlier diagnosis, which are linked to better survival rates, and modern radiotherapy equipment is being rolled out across the country.
The NHS Five Year Forward View was published in October 2014 after input from the Care Quality Commission and Public Health England as well as patient groups and independent experts. “Our values haven’t changed but our world has” it said. The NHS “needs to evolve to meet new challenges: we live longer with complex health issues sometimes of our own making. One in five adults still smoke. A third of us drink too much alcohol. Just under two-thirds of us are overweight or obese.”
What has been achieved since 2014?
A report by NHS England has revealed that over the past three years it has seen its highest cancer survival rates ever with more than 7000 more people believed to have survived the illness after successful NHS treatment than in 2014. According to Cancer Research UK some 356,860 cases were diagnosed that year and 163,444 people died of the illness.
Some 500,000 more people were urgently referred by their GP to cancer checks in 2016-17 year than in 2014, bringing the annual total to more than 1.7 million. About 450,000 more people were seen by a consultant in fewer than 14 days.
Sixteen cancer alliances were formed across the country from September 2016 to improve local services by bringing clinical leaders together.
Overall these results represent a steady development of medical practice in just two years since the plan began in July 2015. However it is clear that the reduction of controversial referral waiting times has been a priority. Meanwhile the most promising cancer drugs approved by the National Institute for Care Excellence are being fast-tracked through development at a negotiated low price thanks to the bulk orders the NHS can haggle for with its huge buying power.
Targets for 2020
The report offers an optimistic view of what can be achieved in the remaining years of the plan up to 2020. For a start, a basic target is to improve cancer survival and the report suggests that 5000 more people will survive cancer by 2020 compared to now. How will this aim be met?
New screenings aim to detect more cancers early. A fifth more bowel cancers are expected to be caught earlier while 3 million women will benefit from testing for the Human Pappiloma Virus, which is linked to cervical and other cancers.
The plan aimed for a maximum waiting time of 62 days from referral to treatment and by 2020 patients should have a definite diagnosis 28 days after referral. To help achieve this there should be 10 new Rapid Diagnostic and Assessment centres across England by March 2018.
By October 2018 the largest radiotherapy upgrade in 15 years will have been carried out with an investment of £130 million, and 23 hospitals have now received new radiotherapy equipment that has so far cost £36 million.
by Stewart Vickers @VickHellfire
The post Health: The NHS is Winning the Battle on Cancer appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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