Recommendation 22

Cancer Alliances have had a positive impact on transforming cancer services and sharing best practice, and enjoy strong support from the sector. However, it is clear that while they are having some success, there is still significant unwarranted variation across regions in England and that the ability of Cancer Alliances to address this is limited as a result of underlying factors such as workforce shortages. While Cancer Alliances have limited ability to address demographic factors such as deprivation which are also drivers of some variation, it is unacceptable if people receive inequitable care based on their ethnicity. It is welcome that the Government is developing and publishing more cancer data broken down by ethnicity as this will be essential to highlighting differences in care and outcomes.