I feel lucky to be alive.
I live in London, close to world-class NHS hospitals, where my swift diagnosis for kidney cancer – caught during a scan for kidney stones – was followed by excellent treatment and care.
But why should where I live have any say on the healthcare I get, or indeed my health itself?
It’s a question I know many ask in some remote towns, rural and coastal communities, where a gulf of inequality remains for health outcomes of serious conditions like cancer.
For too many people, it’s meant the difference between a second chance to live and a life cut short.
Longer waits for appointments.
Journeys to specialist centres taking hours.
Fear that by the time answers come, they come too late.
No one should live with that anxiety.
Health inequalities in England profoundly shape cancer outcomes.
Plan will target poorer areas
Lung cancer remains one of the UK’s biggest killers. Shockingly, death rates are almost three times higher in the poorest areas.
Obesity is rife in deprived communities, symptomatic of limited access to healthy food options and safe outdoor spaces.
These same areas face the higher rates of people out of work because of sickness.
This is why the Government’s new National Cancer Plan, created in partnership with clinical experts, cancer survivors and charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer52 and Cancer Research UK, matters so much to underserved regions.
The plan is built from the patient up: driven by the need for better, more individual care for cancer patients, no matter what your background is or where you live.
We’re going to tackle head-on the workforce shortages that leave some communities without nurses, doctors or specialists and see them waiting longer – with staff stretched thinner.
New cancer-detecting technologies
We’re going to make sure new cancer-detecting technologies are not the privilege of richer areas, but that wherever you live you get access to them.
And we’re going to set clear national criteria, so poor care is tackled wherever it appears.
As always, we’re going to take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS to supercharge our efforts, because geography should never delay when cancer is found or treated.
In Keighley, the Cancer Awareness Network trains community health champions to act as trusted “community beacons”, tackling stigma, language barriers and fear.
The result? Higher screening uptake and earlier treatment – personalised support, closer to home, saving lives.
In Leeds, the Haematological Malignancy Diagnostic Service brings all the expertise needed to diagnose blood cancers into one integrated service, speeding up results and treatment.
And across the NHS, we’ll be training more doctors locally, making them more likely to stay in the area.
I said this Government would restore the promise of the NHS: first class healthcare for everyone, free at the point of use.
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Our National Cancer Plan puts power in the hands of every patient, in every city neighbourhood, market town and coastal village.
Fairer, faster care, closer to home.
That is what people in this country expect, and it is what this Government is determined to deliver.
AI to help diagnose lung cancer
More doctors will be able to train to become cancer specialists at NHS trusts in deprived areas of England under Government plans to end a postcode lottery in cancer care.
A raft of new tests and technologies to spot cases of the disease earlier will also be assessed by the NHS spending watchdog to determine if they can be rolled out in the health service.
The measures form part of the Government’s upcoming National Cancer Plan, a strategy that will aim to prevent cancer, speed up diagnosis and enhance treatment.
Under the plans, the Government will introduce new training places for medics at under-served NHS trusts, with a focus on rural and coastal areas.
Ministers will also work with the royal colleges to entice more doctors to specialise in clinical and medical oncology in a bid to boost numbers.
Meanwhile, from April 2027, new tests and devices that help spot cancer sooner will be assessed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).
The move will help roll out these technologies in the NHS faster, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
The first tests and devices to be assessed by Nice under the new model include AI that reads chest X-rays to help medics spot lung cancer, software that analyses tissue samples for prostate and breast cancer to speed up diagnosis, and new techniques to help women get answers about unexplained vaginal bleeding.
The institute will also assess the “sponge on a string” test for oesophageal cancer.
It involves patients swallowing a small capsule attached to a string, which dissolves in the stomach to leave a small sponge about the size of a 1p coin.
This is then pulled out after a few minutes, collecting cells from the oesophageal lining for analysis.
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