Cancer52 welcomes the Health and Social Care Select Committee’s report on Cancer Services, published today (Tuesday 5 April 2022). Read the Committee's Report. The report finds that:
People with rare and less common cancer struggle to get a cancer diagnosis and are not always prioritised for new initiatives
There needs to be a focus on early diagnosis, especially the 75% target of diagnosing all cancers at stage 1 or two by 2028
Cancer data needs to be used more effectively and published more swiftly
There needs to be investment in the cancer workforce
Integrated Care Systems should have a named person responsible for cancer
There should be a review of inequalities in cancer due to demographics.
The report makes a range of recommendations including:
That the new cancer plan should include an action plan for rare, less common and less survivable cancers
The NHS should continue with marketing campaigns to raise awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer
A detailed breakdown of the backlog in cancer care, including by cancer type.
Cancer52 called for all these recommendations in both our written and oral evidence. Read our written evidence.
Jane Lyons, Cancer52 CEO gave oral evidence to the Committee and Katy Hall, a kidney cancer patient, also gave oral evidence to the committee. You can learn more about Katy’s story at the DoYouCUs website. Both Katy and Jane are quoted in the report.
The Health and Social Care Committee also commissioned an Expert Panel to review the evidence on cancer services. The Expert Panel report was published last week (31 March 2022) Read the Expert Panel report. Cancer52 also submitted evidence to this panel and Cancer52 member charities representatives joined the patient panels that the panel ran.
The Expert Panel's report is a very thorough assessment of cancer services. In relation to people with rare and less common cancer, the panel’s report cites Cancer52’s evidence and
Notes that personalised care is important for people with rare and less common cancers, and it can be harder to find
Backs Cancer52’s call for transparency of funding
And supports our call for disaggregation of data
Cancer52 endorses the findings of both of these important reports. Following the closure of the Call for Evidence for Cancer on 8 April 2022, we will be working to ensure that the DHSC and
NHS England implement the recommendations of these reports, and incorporate our asks in Cancer52’s Call for Evidence responses and the Consensus Statement, in the new Cancer Plan.
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