RTUK, along with over 50 other cancer charities, collaborate on a letter to the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care on the forthcoming 10-year Cancer Plan.
This letter outlined evidence to inform a new 10-year cancer plan
• Fully planned, costed and funded: The power to truly transform the outcomes for people affected by cancer by 2032 is in your hands. To reach that potential, this plan must be visionary and set bold and stretching targets to achieve what really matters to people affected by cancer – preventing more cancers, diagnosing more cancers earlier and offering the best treatment and care tailored to the needs of every patient. In doing so you will also have the opportunity to deliver on your ambition to tackle health inequalities and truly harness the power of the UK’s world beating research and innovation to improve outcomes and experience. Ambition and vision must be underpinned by a clear, fully costed and funded plan for how we will get there. That means publicly announced objectives for how you will transform cancer outcomes and experience with timelines for implementation for each part of the plan, along with associated costing and funding.
• No more shortages in the cancer workforce: Fundamentally, without investment in growing the cancer workforce to meet demand, to tackle backlogs, make more time for patients and drive innovation in cancer services the plan will not have the confidence of the cancer community. The plan must deliver on the existing Ministerial commitment that “the forthcoming 10-Year Cancer Plan will also ensure we have the right workforce in place.” That cannot be achieved without robust workforce modelling for the lifetime of the plan, matched by committed investment for at least the lifetime of the current Spending Review period.
• Match ambition with accountability: The whole cancer community wants to see this plan succeed. To support you to deliver the ambitions of the upcoming plan, we need a transparent accountability framework with clear political leadership and annual assessment of progress. For accountability to be meaningful, it must include independent governance that involves the whole cancer community including cancer charities and people affected by cancer.
Underpinning these three key measures is a more detailed set of ten important tests, developed by the One Cancer Voice coalition.
To view the full letter and see all the charities involved go here
