Target of four-week cancer diagnosis

[annie]

More details of plans to improve cancer care in England have been revealed.

They include a target that 95% of people should be given a diagnosis or the all-clear within 28 days of being referred by a GP, by 2020. Implementing it will cost £300m a year until then.

The target - recommended by the Independent Cancer Taskforce - will be trialled in five hospitals before being rolled out nationwide if successful.

Faster diagnosis could save 11,000 lives a year, the taskforce said.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK lagged behind other western European countries in cancer survival rates and the new measures would help "close the gap".




"We know that the biggest single factor that means that our cancer survival rates lag those of France, Germany and other European countries is the fact that we have too much late diagnosis; we don't get an answer to people quickly enough," he said.

Mr Hunt said he was making "a very simple promise to all NHS patients" that by 2020 they would have a cancer diagnosis or an all-clear within 28 days.

However, the Department of Health later clarified that while it hoped to achieve the Independent Cancer Taskforce target of 95% by 2020, it would only be clear once trials were completed whether that was achievable.

Speeding up diagnosis would require more cancer consultants, specialist nurses, staff trained in endoscopies and diagnostic tests, Mr Hunt added.

Currently 280,000 people in England are diagnosed with cancer each year - with half surviving for at least 10 years
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34222023

[maureenho]

My husband got diagnosed very quickly 4 years ago and operated on.