{"id":28355,"date":"2022-09-22T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=24674"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:13:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:13:15","slug":"opinion-what-should-the-cancer-agenda-look-like-for-the-new-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/opinion-what-should-the-cancer-agenda-look-like-for-the-new-prime-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: What should the cancer agenda look like for the new Prime Minister?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last couple of weeks has been quite the firestorm for the new Truss administration. When the Prime Minister and the new Government front bench team get past the period of national mourning for the sad passing of the Queen, once-in-a-generation government interventions on the spiralling cost of living and the associated mini-budget, and the whirlwind of other announcements and appearances, they\u2019ll be sitting down to desks groaning under the weight of their in-trays.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

We at Cancer Research UK know the health service faces an unprecedented challenge, from workforce shortages to record-breaking backlogs. Cancer Waiting Times targets tell us about the health of cancer services: when wait times are short the service is in good shape, and vice versa. The latest stats for July 2022 reinforced the worrying recent trend of some of the poorest performing months on record, with just 61.6% of patients starting cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral, against a target of 85%. That means in July around 5,400 patients were left waiting longer than this clinically important target, with all the worry for them and their loved ones that these long waits entail. This acute crisis is driven in part by COVID, but we can\u2019t ignore that these are chronic pressures \u2013 this target has been missed since 2015. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

We have known for some time what is needed. Despite the immense pressures, we strongly believe this is fixable by a Government and NHS leadership who wish to seize the opportunity to deliver progress. Because of that, we believe the work to begin to fix this should begin without delay. And we believe this work, if done well, can truly make our health services world-leading, not world-lagging, for the patients of today and tomorrow.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, and as we saw during the pandemic, we know that cancer won\u2019t pause for a few months to give us a sporting chance to sort ourselves out. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Before the leadership contests were called, Government schedules were laden with plans and promises to tackle the big cancer challenges. We have asked the new administration to focus on delivering three of these:<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n