Cancer care is too important to be left to chance

Alan Milburn Health Secretary

The cancer standards have been drawn up by the cancer czar Professor Mike Richards for doctors and hospital managers.

They provide step-by-step advice on ten issues such as the appropriate mix of specialists in cancer teams, training needs and levels of equipment.

Hospitals are being asked to draw up action plans to implement the guidance.

Checks

Professor Mike Richards drew up the guidelines

From April teams of experts will check that every hospital is meeting the standards.

The cancer standards are part of the government's cancer plan, which it hopes will save 10,000 lives a year by 2010.

Cancer services are set to receive �280m from April, rising to �570m by 2003/4.

Breast screening will be extended to women between 65 and 70 from April.

Further initiatives this year will include new targets to cut waiting times to one month for GP referrals for treatment for children's and testicular cancer and acute leukaemia.

Professor Richards said: "Throughout the service, clinicians and NHS staff have worked extremely hard to improve the quality of care for cancer patients.

"Specialist cancer teams are being established and cancer networks are becoming a reality.

"Cancer service collaboratives are streamlining care, reducing waiting times for treatment.

"These new standards will enable us to ensure that all patients receive high quality care."

'No greater priority'

Health secretary Alan Milburn said: "There is no greater priority for the NHS that modernising cancer services.

"After decades of neglect, cancer services are now getting sustained investment and the fundamental reforms they have long needed."

He added: "It will take time for the NHS to deliver world-beating cancer care, but this year patients will see substantial improvements in all parts of the country.

"The new national standards will help end the unfair lottery in cancer services. Cancer care is too important to be left to chance."

Professor Peter Selby, head of Imperial Cancer Research Fund's Cancer Medicine Research Unit in Leeds and head of the National Cancer Research Network, said: "It's about time that cancer patients had equal access to diagnosis and treatment, no matter where they live.

"This can only be done with better equipment, more cancer specialists and better patient access to the most appropriate treatments."

Currently, the UK has some of the highest death rates in Europe for several of the major cancers.

Cancer charities have blamed a shortage of specialist staff for the failure to translate pioneering research into effective medicine in the UK.

A report by the Royal College of Physicians, released in December, found that many patients are not granted access to experts with specialist knowledge of administering chemotherapy drugs.

There is also concern that some proven cancer drugs are being denied patients because they are too expensive.