{"id":26551,"date":"2020-11-25T18:29:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T18:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=18135"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:15:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:15:53","slug":"spending-review-2020-steps-in-the-right-direction-but-opportunities-missed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/spending-review-2020-steps-in-the-right-direction-but-opportunities-missed\/","title":{"rendered":"Spending Review 2020 \u2013 Steps in the right direction, but opportunities missed"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Today, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out the UK Government\u2019s spending priorities for the next year.<\/p>\n

It was an opportunity to lay the groundwork for the Government to meet its commitments to improve cancer survival and to enhance the UK\u2019s place as a global leader in research, as we\u2019ve written about before<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With investment for the NHS and more investment in research, the commitments outlined today are a step in the right direction. But they\u2019re only a first step. More investment is needed in coming years for the NHS, and more details on whether investment in research includes money to protect charity funded medical research is urgently required.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what was announced today, where the Government has got it right, and what more needs to be done.<\/p>\n

What investment did cancer services need?<\/h2>\n

We know that diagnosing cancer at the earliest stages saves lives.<\/p>\n

Across the UK there are ambitious targets to diagnose cancer earlier, which would give people with cancer more and better treatment options, as well as improving outcomes. But this can\u2019t be done without more investment both to expand the cancer workforce and buy more diagnostic equipment.<\/p>\n

Importantly, even before COVID-19 there weren\u2019t enough NHS staff to diagnose and treat cancer, and we\u2019ve estimated<\/a> the UK Government needs to invest an extra \u00a3260 million more over the next 3 to 5 years in the cancer workforce to be able to provide world-class cancer services in the future.<\/p>\n

We also have some catching up to do with diagnostic equipment. To reach the average number of MRI and CT scanners \u2013 vital to diagnosing many cancers \u2013 among leading countries, we\u2019d need to invest \u00a31.5 billion<\/a>. And introducing innovative models like \u2018community diagnostic hubs\u2019<\/a> that could help quickly diagnose people with symptoms of cancer would also need investment at least in the hundreds of millions, over a number of years.<\/p>\n

What investment did the NHS get?<\/h2>\n

The good news is the health system in England will get an \u00a33 billion on top of previous commitments. That includes \u00a31 billion for hospitals to ramp up activity across all areas of care \u2013 which should give the NHS in England what it needs to cope through the winter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also an extra \u00a31.5 billion to ease existing pressures on the health service, which should go some way to tackling a cancer backlog now in the millions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the NHS workforce and diagnostic equipment, there are also positive commitments for next year.<\/p>\n

Vital investment in the NHS workforce has been made with an extra \u00a3260 million next year for Health Education England, the body responsible for recruiting and training healthcare staff. We strongly support this investment, which will help address the chronic staff shortages that exist across NHS and will contribute to growing the cancer workforce too.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s vital that it is followed up with funding for the longer-term, as one year\u2019s worth of investment simply isn\u2019t enough. The NHS People Plan<\/a> published in July this year talked about funding that would make sure education and training was \u2018fit for the future.\u2019<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also \u00a3325 million set aside for new diagnostic kit, which will help upgrade some older scanners. It\u2019s a great start but with billions needed, the Government must commit to a multi-year plan so we can increase service capacity and support setting up new diagnostic hubs.<\/p>\n

Devolved nations will receive an equivalent funding uplift, but importantly they don\u2019t have to spend it on workforce and kit \u2013 so now governments across the UK must commit to using extra funding to invest in the diagnostic kit and the cancer workforce needed to meet their own ambitions to improve cancer outcomes.<\/p>\n

Preventing cancers by funding public health services<\/h2>\n

Funding for local prevention services that help to improve the nation\u2019s health and reduce people\u2019s risk of cancer like stop smoking, weight management and alcohol treatment services is vital \u2013 something the pandemic has only made clearer.<\/p>\n

For years, local government has suffered from cuts to their public health budget, and unfortunately, today\u2019s Spending Review failed to provide any meaningful additional investment in local public health, further threatening these important services.<\/p>\n

If the Government is serious about reducing health inequalities across the country, next year\u2019s Spending Review must provide longer-term financial certainty, so public health services can build back better in the wake of COVID-19 and help deliver on government ambitions to improve the nation\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

Protecting cancer research \u2013 real commitments, but clarity still needed<\/h2>\n

Finally, research. The impact of COVID-19 on medical research charities has been devastating, with the sector expecting a \u00a3310m shortfall in their research funding this year alone. That\u2019s why, along with the Association of Medical Research Charities, we called for a 3-year Life Sciences \u2013 Charity Partnership Fund, to ensure that ground-breaking research can continue, as we\u2019ve outlined before<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, the Government committed to investing \u00a314.6 billion in research next year, alongside some commitments to increase multi-year funding for some research. This is a significant move toward protecting the UK\u2019s place as a global leader in research.<\/p>\n

But, whilst some funding has been specifically marked for supporting the whole research and development ecosystem, there was no clear commitment to a Life Sciences \u2013 Charity Partnership Fund nor to any targeted support for medical research charities. We now need urgent clarity to understand whether the uplifts to research funding announced will support our vital medical research charities to recover from the impact of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Raising our voices<\/h2>\n

We called on the UK Government to use the Spending Review as an opportunity to double down on their manifesto commitments and give each part of the UK the funding they need to improve cancer outcomes. Adding their voices to our calls<\/a> were thousands of our committed campaigners and supporters, who have been invaluable in bringing home to the Government just how important tackling cancer is.<\/p>\n

Today, our collective voice has been heard on protecting cancer services, with steps in the right direction through investment in the NHS workforce and diagnostic kit that will help to address the growing cancer backlog. But it doesn\u2019t end here \u2013 the money only goes as far as the next year and without the ability to plan for the future, it will be difficult to make long term progress on ambitions to improve early diagnosis and cancer survival.<\/p>\n

And while there are positive signs on investment in research, it remains uncertain whether medical research charities like Cancer Research UK will benefit. As we work to recover from the impact of COVID-19, the generosity of our supporters will be more important than ever.<\/p>\n

With your help, we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with people affected by cancer, to speak up on the changes we need to see and to hold Government to account so they take the steps forward we know are vital to saving lives. Together we will beat cancer.<\/p>\n

Matt Sample is a policy advisor at Cancer Research UK<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

To find out more about how the Spending Review will impact people affected by cancer tune in to our webinar<\/a> on Tuesday 1 December<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

More on this topic<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out the UK Government\u2019s spending priorities for the next year. It was an opportunity to lay the groundwork for the Government to meet its commitments to improve cancer survival and to enhance the UK\u2019s place as a global leader in research, as we\u2019ve written about before. With investment for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45489,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26551\/revisions\/45489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}