The Health and Social Care Committee has published the Government
Response to its report on Cancer services.
The Committee’s report, published in April,
found there was a real risk that gains in cancer survival would
reverse without significant additional efforts. MPs did not
believe the NHS was on track to meet the Government’s 75% early
diagnosis target by 2028. The Report concluded neither earlier
diagnosis nor additional prompt cancer treatment would be
possible without addressing gaps in the cancer workforce, but MPs
found little evidence of a serious effort to do this.
The Government
Response published today, said it was ‘premature’
for the Committee to suggest that progress on early cancer
diagnosis was ‘off track’.
Health and Social Care Committee Chair said:
“Earlier cancer diagnosis is the key to improving overall
survival rates. Without wholesale improvement, we do not believe
that the NHS is on track to reach the government’s target on this
and so it is deeply concerning that Ministers label our warning
as premature.
“For this ambition to be met, urgent
increases are needed to plug critical gaps in the cancer
workforce. Instead of a detailed plan to address these shortages,
we are offered a ‘new vision for how we will
lead the world in cancer care’. These are simply words; the
government cannot tell us how or when a single extra oncologist
will be recruited.”
ENDS
In their report, MPs had urged the Department of
Health and Social Care and NHS England
to:
-
Develop a specific plan to address gaps in diagnostic
workforce, short-term and long-term shortages in key
professions and level of investment required to deliver
sustainable long-term increases.
-
Publish a detailed analysis of the extent of the
cancer backlog to support the delivery of the elective care
recovery plan.
-
Set out an estimate of what level of additional
capacity in NHS cancer services will be needed to address the
backlog in cancer services and treatment by March
2023.
-
Set out an action plan to ensure that NHS cancer
services are able to provide this additional capacity above
normal levels.
The Health and Social Care Committee has also published the
Government Response to its
Expert Panel’s report which evaluated Government
progress against selected policy commitments on cancer services.
It rated overall Government progress against commitments to
improve services as ‘inadequate’, the first time that the
Committee’s independently appointed panel has done so on
Government commitments it has evaluated.
The independent panel of experts carried out an objective
evaluation of progress against pledges made by Ministers across a
range of policy areas - workforce, diagnostics, living well with
and beyond cancer, and technology and innovation with CQC-style
ratings against five specific commitments, as well as giving a
single overall rating.
Professor Dame Jane Dacre, Chair of the Expert Panel,
said:
“Given that the Expert Panel rated the Government’s
overall progress on commitments we evaluated on cancer services
as inadequate, it is significant that Ministers chose not to
comment on this finding.
“On the cancer workforce, we found that targets to
increase the size and expand skills were set woefully short of
demand and were not sufficiently ambitious. The Government in its
response rejects our view, insisting that these commitments
considered to be appropriate at that time. However, our evidence
points to overworked and under-resourced services, which
ultimately leads to patients waiting longer for care, and care
professionals not being able to provide the standard of care that
they want.
“While we’re encouraged to learn that the Government will
seek to address challenges in delivering on commitments in cancer
services in its future plan, it was disappointing to be told that
as a result of this work, a full response to the Expert Panel’s
report was not possible at this time.”
ENDS
Note to editors:
The Health and Social Care Committee’s Cancer services report
(published 5 April) concluded the NHS was not on track to meet
its target on early cancer diagnosis. Without progress, that
would mean more than 340,000 people between 2019 and 2028 missing
out on an early cancer diagnosis.
The Committee’s Expert Panel report
(published 31 March) rated overall progress made by the
Government against targets on cancer services in England as
‘inadequate’. It rated
progress to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028 as
inadequate. Further details on the Expert Panel
evaluationhere.
