04.10.18
Theresa May announces new cancer strategy for NHS
The prime minister has announced a new cancer strategy for the NHS which will see “a step change in how we diagnose cancer” and improve cancer survival rates.
Theresa May said she wants to increase early detection rates for cancer from one in two today to three in four by 2028, and have 50,000 more people alive five years after getting their diagnosis by the same year.
Delivering the closing speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, she said: “Survival rates are increasing but we are lagging behind other countries, so today I can announce a new cancer strategy, funded by our NHS’s 70th birthday present.”
“The key to boosting your chances of surviving cancer is an early diagnosis.”
“We’ll do it by lowering the age which we screen for bowel cancer from 60 to 50 [years old], by investing in the very latest scanners, and by building more rapid diagnosis centres.
Under the plans, the NHS will create a national network of “one stop shops” that will drive up detection rates and help people get treatment quicker.
May also spoke about the death of her god daughter from cancer, who underwent treatment but sadly passed away last year.
The strategy will form a “central plank” of a 10-year plan for the NHS due to be published later this year.
Simon Stevens said back in July that cancer and mental health would become a focus of NHS funding.
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Image credit - Han Yan/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images