The passing of the

Cancer Act 1939 The Cancer Act 1939 is an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in 1939 to: * make further provision for the treatment of cancer; * to authorise the Minister of Health to lend money to the Natio ...

marked the political significance of cancer treatment. It envisaged a system of co-ordination of diagnosis and treatment under the control of County Councils and County Borough Councils which preceded the establishment of the NHS. The outbreak of war prevented most of its provisions from coming into effect.

Performance

There were 361,216 cancer diagnoses in 2014 in the United Kingdom.

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organization. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

publishes detailed statistics of the incidence of and mortality from cancer in the UK. Cancer Research UK estimates that 15% of UK cancers are caused by smoking, and 3-4% of UK cancers are related to alcohol consumption. Treatment of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

has been a recurring issue in the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. Official guidelines state that no one in England should have to wait more than 62 days for cancer treatment after a referral from their general practitioner. However, press reports in 2015 indicated that some patients had to wait longer. On 4 September 2015, the NHS announced it would no longer pay for 17 different cancer medications. The Telegraph reported that over 5,000 patients with breast, bowel, skin, and pancreatic cancers would be affected. A five-year Cancer Strategy Implementation Plan was published by NHS England in 2015. It promises considerable investment in

linear accelerator A linear particle accelerator (often shortened to linac) is a type of particle accelerator that accelerates charged subatomic particles or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear beam ...

s There have been some improvements in cancer care but too many patients are waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment. Sir

Harpal Kumar Sir Harpal Singh Kumar (born 1965) is a British medical researcher of Indian descent, who was the chief executive officer of Cancer Research UK until June 2018, when he left the charity to become Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation EMEA. Early ...

criticised the government's child obesity strategy. He said the report was not tough enough on the food industry, given the number of cancers which are linked to lifestyle. The increased investment does not appear to be sufficient to meet the rise in the number of cancer patients, and there are shortages of

radiologist Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiatio ...

s, specialist nurses and other key staff.

Targets

National cancer waiting times standards were established by

NHS England NHS England, officially the NHS Commissioning Board, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the ...

in 2009 (and the same targets have been set by

NHS Scotland NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland, ...

). In 2017 the targets are * No more than 62 days wait between the date the hospital receives an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer and starting treatment * Starting treatment no more than 31 days after the meeting at which you and your doctor agree the treatment plan The targets are monitored monthly and in the period from 2014 to 2016 were only met in 4 months out of 36. Sara Hiom of

said, ‘The state of NHS diagnostic services is deeply concerning – and new GP referral guidelines from NICE mean that even more patients will be waiting for these tests. There aren’t enough trained staff, they're often reliant on outdated equipment and in many cases they're already operating services seven days a week.' Dr Giles Maskell of the

Royal College of Radiologists The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) is the professional body responsible for the specialties of clinical oncology and clinical radiology throughout the United Kingdom. Its role is to advance the science and practice of radiology and oncol ...

said, ‘Well-resourced testing services are crucial to the early diagnosis of cancer, which in turn is vital to increase survival from the disease.' Cancer Research UK is calling on the government to provide funding for earlier diagnosis of cancer as prompt diagnosis increases the chances the patient will survive. NHS cancer services ‘underfunded and understaffed’
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References

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Performance

Targets

See also

References