Cancer 2020: Cancer Campaigns

Cancer Research UK staff and volunteers at Downing StreetOur Cancer 2020 campaign helped convince politicians to plan NOW for the future of cancer!

Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, announced on 30 November 2006 that the Government will draw up a new Cancer Reform Strategy for England to build on the successes from the NHS Cancer Plan and look ahead to the next five years of cancer services.

This fantastic commitment came just a week after we handed over a quarter of a million petition signatures in to 10 Downing St. We know that the Cancer 2020 petition played a vital role in convincing politicians and we simply couldn’t have done it without you.

The strategy has now been published and Cancer Research UK has been heavily involved in its development. It contains a wide range of policies aimed at tackling cancer in England including an investment of £130m into radiotherapy services, action on sunbed use, tobacco regulation and a commitment to get drugs approved and onto the NHS faster. To find out more about our reaction to the strategy please see our press statement.

Following our success in England, we took the Cancer 2020 petition to the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, in February 2007.

Barely a month after we took the petition to the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Executive announced that they will be updating the Cancer in Scotland strategy. This is really great news, and we are now pushing the newly elected government in Scotland to keep to this commitment.

In July 2008 30 CancerCampaigns Ambassadors met with their Welsh Assembly members to call for a cancer plan for Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government recently announced a new Strategic Framework for the future of cancer treatment and services. We are now working to ensure that the Framework contains everything a cancer plan should.

Northern Ireland is yet to commit to planning now for the future of cancer. We are calling on them to introduce comprehensive plans to ensure that cancer remains at the top of the political agenda.

What was the Cancer 2020 campaign all about?

In June 2006, Cancer Research UK launched a campaign calling on politicians across the UK to plan NOW for the future of cancer. We recognised the need for them to urgently identify and prepare for changes in cancer treatments and incidence up to 2020 and beyond and plan future cancer services accordingly.

We aimed to get a commitment from politicians responsible for the NHS in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to draw up cancer strategies.

These plans are vital in making sure that advances continue to be made and patients benefit from new and more effective treatments. But planning alone is not enough. We wanted to see fairness placed at the heart of cancer services.

  • We believe that all cancer patients have a right to expect the best possible treatments available, regardless of where they live
  • We believe that politicians must ensure their plans address the continuing inequalities in cancer services and treatment
  • We believe that the NHS must be in a position to fully benefit from breakthroughs in cancer research

Plan it right, make it fair.

Why do we need cancer plans for the future?

In the UK, we’re living longer, largely thanks to major advances in public health. Cancer is predominantly a disease of older people, so as the population ages, the number of cases is likely to increase in the years ahead. However, the good news is that earlier detection and new and better cancer treatments mean many more people will survive cancer.

New methods of prevention, screening and diagnosis, and new generations of targeted and tailored drugs and treatments, could hugely improve cancer services in the next decade and beyond. Some cancers may become manageable diseases like other long-term medical conditions such as heart disease. These new developments will bring significantly increased costs for the NHS and could require major changes to the way cancer services are delivered.

Plan it right

These changes will clearly place a far greater burden on NHS cancer services in the future. Without clear strategies to address this, inequalities in access to treatment will grow. The NHS must be adequately prepared if all patients are to receive the best possible care.

The Cancer Plan in England and its equivalent in Scotland have led to important advances in cancer and this progress should be applauded. We called for these strategies to be revised and updated and we hope that plans fit for the 21st century will be urgently devised in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Make it fair

Politicians have the opportunity to make sure this happens by building fairness into their future plans for cancer services. There are no overnight solutions and it will take vision, commitment and renewed investment to make it fair. But we believe it is unacceptable that patients in different parts of the UK can’t be guaranteed access to the same level of cancer services. Where you live should not determine your standard of care.

As new and more effective treatments emerge from cancer research, it is crucial that the inequalities in access to treatment are addressed. Cancer Research UK wants to see all patients benefiting from new advances as soon as possible.

We are working closely with the government on the content of the revised strategy for England to ensure that our priorities for planning and fairness are taken into account.

Working in partnership

In securing a commitment to an updated NHS Cancer Plan for England we are worked in partnership with 27 other national cancer charities in the Cancer Campaigning Group coalition to raise awareness amongst politicians of the need to plan for the long-term future of cancer. We are continuing to work together on our priorities for the new strategy.