This article has been fully funded and developed by MSD UK who retained full editorial control.
The State of UK Cancer Care: A Pivotal Moment
Modern cancer care in the UK is at a crossroads. We stand on the brink of a new era, powered by breakthroughs in personalised medicine, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
But we are also confronted by stark, persistent challenges, including workforce shortages and stretched NHS resources. These barriers threaten to undermine innovation and affect standards of care received by patients.
We have never known more about cancer, nor possessed such powerful tools for diagnosis and treatment. Yet, despite leading in innovation, our delivery falls short, meaning patients in the UK are not being diagnosed or treated quickly enough.[i]
NHS pressures and workforce constraints have left our survival rates lagging, sometimes by more than 25 years compared to other European countries.[i] Those in deprived areas suffer even worse outcomes.[ii]
We cannot accept this status quo. The time for action is now.
Turning Innovation into Impact: The Need for Urgent Action
The good news: effective solutions already exist. Organisations like MSD, in partnership with the NHS, are demonstrating tangible improvements through innovative approaches and streamlined patient pathways.
Our recent report, It’s About Time: Accelerating the Cancer Patient Pathway, shows that improving the efficiency of cancer pathways can reduce barriers to care, help the NHS meet critical waiting time targets, and address inequalities which cause variation in the care received by patients.
The time for transformation is now. The Government’s renewed focus on cancer, as evidenced by the 10 Year Health Plan for England and the anticipated National Cancer Plan, signals that we have a unique opportunity to achieve change.
Evaluating and optimising the cancer pathway, embracing diagnostic innovations like genomics, and accelerating implementation will be central to meaningful progress for patients across the UK. In doing so, we can deliver real change for the over-28,000 people who lose their lives each year across the UK to deprivation.[iii]
We are recommending that the Government and NHS should:
- Continue to prioritise diagnosing people with cancer faster and at the earliest possible stage.
- Accelerate the time taken for people to begin cancer treatment to ensure the benefits of faster and earlier diagnosis are realised.
- Introduce innovative ways to deliver timely, personalised care for people diagnosed with cancer, their families and carers across the pathway.
Collaboration in Action: Proven Pathway Successes
As reflected in our It’s About Time report, MSD are more than advocates, we are proven partners. Our dedicated teams work closely with the NHS through Pathway Development Programmes, Capacity Optimisation, and advanced analytic tools that work to create proactive, innovative solutions. Our collaborative efforts have already delivered measurable results:
- We supported South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Cancer Alliance to streamline cancer testing across breast, lung, and head and neck cancers. By fostering collaboration between previously siloed labs, we achieved a 4% improvement in pathways for lung and breast cancer, and an 8% improvement for head and neck cancer.[iv]
- At Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust we introduced the Pathway Navigator role, freeing up crucial nurse time, increasing the number of triple negative breast cancer patients seen in clinic by 48% over four months and saving 158 nurse days annually.[v]
These highlighted achievements are reinforced by insights from Macmillan Cancer Support, where Dr Claire Taylor MBE, Chief Nursing Officer and Professor Richard Simcock, Chief Medical Officer reflected, ‘This report highlights inequalities and prompts action that requires us to think differently, collaborate, source better data and pilot new possibilities. The compelling case studies show what can be achieved, including examples of protecting and releasing valuable clinical time across the clinical team to support personalised care delivery across the whole pathway…MSD is clearly committed through its wide NHS and community partnerships to both accelerating and improving the cancer journey.[vi]
These successes underscore a critical truth: the solutions exist, and collaboration works.
Building the Future of Cancer Care – Together
We have the innovations; now it’s time for action. The time for incremental change has passed; we need bold, coordinated efforts to accelerate the patient pathway and embed innovative care across the NHS.
Contact MSD’s Oncology Healthcare Team through MSD Engage today to learn more about how we can partner on pathway transformation and deliver lasting change for UK cancer care.
GB-NON-11464 | September 2025
[i] Macmillan Cancer Support. Decades behind and failing patients, UK cancer care is ‘stuck in the noughties’. 2024
[ii] Cancer Research UK. Cancer in the UK 2025: Socioeconomic deprivation. 2025.
[iii] Kirby, T. UK sees almost 30 000 extra cancer deaths each year due to deprivation. 2025. The Lancet Oncology, Volume 26, Issue 4, P. 415.
[iv] MSD. South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Histopathology PDP. MSD Engage. 2025. https://www.msdengage.co.uk/how-we-have-helped/south-yorkshire-bassetlaw-histopathology-pdp/
[v] MSD. Collaborative Working. Available: https://www.msd-uk.com/partnerships/collaborative-working/
[vi] MSD. It’s about time: Accelerating the cancer patient pathway. MSD Engage. 2025. https://www.msdengage.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/378/2025/06/It_s_about_time_Accelerating_the_cancer_patient_pathway_MSD_report_DIGITAL.pdf
