Progress in improving cancer services and outcomes in England
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“The Public Accounts Committee reported most recently on cancer services in February 2011. The Committee concluded that the NHS had made significant progress in delivering important aspects of cancer services, with falling mortality rates and consistent achievement of the cancer waiting times targets. A significant increase in resources had contributed to the improvements, but the progress had also been achieved through clear direction and high-profile leadership. However, the Committee was concerned that there remained wide, unexplained variations in performance across the country and significant gaps in information about important aspects of cancer services. On 11 January 2015, NHS England announced that it had set up a taskforce to develop a five-year action plan for cancer services by summer 2015, with the aim of improving survival rates. On 12 January 2015, NHS England announced changes to the Cancer Drugs Fund following a review of drugs included in the Fund. From April 2015, the budget for the Fund will increase and some of the drugs currently included will no longer be funded. This inquiry will look at progress in improving cancer services and outcomes; at how changes to the health system have affected cancer services and will examine the recently announced action plan and changes to the Cancer Drugs Fund. Further information National Audit Office report: Progress in improving cancer services and outcomes in England Chair's statement: Progress in improving cancer services and outcomes in England PAC Report: Delivering the Cancer Reform Strategy, 15 February 2011 (PDF 361 KB)”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
Despite having a good record in improving cancer services, the Department of Health and NHS England have lost momentum in the last two years. The incidence of cancer has grown whilst the resources available to support improvement have reduced. Leadership has been lost, the support for commissioners and providers reduced, and fragmentation of accountability has made progress more difficult. The NHS needs to adapt to cope with the growing demand, but it is struggling to meet waiting time standards. Whilst survival rates continue to improve, nearly a third of people still die within a year of being diagnosed and around half do not survive for five years, placing the UK in a poor position when compared with the rest of Europe In addition, the inequalities and variations that we highlighted in 2011 persist. Survival rates and access to treatment are unjustifiably poor for older people in particular, and this is especially concerning because three-in-five cancers are diagnosed in people aged over 65. NHS England does not understand what lies behind the variations and is not using the available data to hold poorly performing local areas to account. While the information to support improvements in cancer services is better than it was, important gaps remain, for example in the completeness of ‘staging data’ (which record how advanced a person’s cancer is at diagnosis). There are also insufficient data to evaluate properly the impact of the Cancer Drugs Fund on patient outcomes.
What the government said
No government response is linked to this report.
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 12 December 2014 to its close on 26 March 2015.
- Oral evidence 21 Jan 2015
- Report 12 Mar 2015
What it recommended
The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in 45th Report - Progress in improving cancer services and outcomes in England ↗ on parliament.uk.
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1
- 21 Jan 2015No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗