The UK is to mount a ten year “war on cancer,” ministers pledged today in response to World Cancer Day.
Details of the plan remained sketchy as Health Secretary Sajid Javid launched it with a “call for evidence”, promising to back the most effective ideas.
It came as a series of analyses reported a mixed picture for cancer care as the pandemic hampered progress in some specialties.
Mr Javid promised to increase the workforce in cancer care and increase rates of early stage diagnosis.
He also wants to support research on mRNA-based vaccines and treatments for cancer. There is also a promise of further efforts to tackle big risk factors, “such as smoking.”
The “call for evidence” period will last for just eight weeks.
Mr Javid said: “Huge strides in cancer care have been made in recent years – in the last 15 years, one-year survival has increased by more than 10% and for patients diagnosed in 2015, their survival rate was 72% after one year.
“However, the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact. While dedicated NHS staff ensured cancer treatment was maintained at 94% of pre-pandemic levels and 95% of people starting treatment did so within a month, there were nearly 50,000 fewer cancer diagnoses across the UK during the pandemic, including 34,000 in England.”
National cancer director Cally Palmer said: “From one stop shops for vital checks and revolutionary treatment options like proton beam therapy – we will continue to go further and faster in our mission to save more lives and ensure England is world leading in cancer care.
“A key part of the strategy will be building on the latest scientific advances and partnering with the country’s technology pioneers.”
Cancer Research UK chief executive Michelle Mitchell said: “The Secretary of State has set out a bold ambition for cancer services. We must make the most of this opportunity, going further and faster than we have before. And critically, this ambition must be backed with funding and accountability. It has been an incredibly difficult time for people affected by this disease.
“For years, progress in cancer has been too slow – and due to the disruption of the pandemic, we now face the prospect of that progress stalling. As a country we should not be satisfied with the pace of change to date, or the fact that the burden of cancer weighs heaviest on the most deprived in the UK.”
The first “war on cancer” was declared in the USA in 1971 by President Nixon and led to reforms in research and treatment guidelines.
Myeloma survival rates have increased
Patients with myeloma have shown biggest increase in survivability, according to a new NHS Digital report.
The report showed that when looking at the increase and decrease in five-year survival for several different cancers, averaged ten different reporting periods for patients diagnosed between 2006-10 and 2015-19, the biggest improvement was among myeloma patients. The authors found average annual increases of 1.0% for males and 1.4% for females.
The same report showed that the biggest decrease in survivability was in bladder cancer, with average annual decreases 0.5% for males and 0.6% for females.
*The Cancer Survival in England for Patients Diagnosed Between 2015 and 2019* report uses National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) data and provides information on survival rates for cancers in adults that were newly diagnosed between the 2015 and 2019 calendar years and in children that were newly diagnosed between 2002 and 2019 calendar years in England.
Breakdowns for adult survival are available by geography, sex, deprivation and diagnosis stage and for the first time deprivation breakdowns have also been included.
This shows that for most cancer types, the net survival rate was lowest in the most deprived area and highest in the least deprived.
The largest deprivation difference in one-year age standardised net survival rates was in women with bladder cancer, where the variation was 13.4 percentage points between those living in the most deprived areas (58.4%) and those in the least deprived areas (71.8%).
The report also shows that for cancers diagnosed between 2015 and 2019 skin cancer had the highest five-year age standardised net survival rate at 94.8%, while pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma had the lowest five-year age standardised net survival rates, at 7.8% and 6.3% respectively.
For children, the five-year cancer survival rate has increased for 0-14 year olds, from 76.9% in 2002 to 85.2% in 2019, its highest recorded level.
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