Cancer services spending reaches record levels

The amount of spending on cancer services has reached record levels, the government has announced.

According to the latest figures, additional investment in cancer services has reached £639 million, since 2000/01 - £69 million more than was committed in the 2000 NHS Cancer Plan.

Professor Mike Richards, National Director for Cancer, tracked how the additional funding was being allocated. According to his figures; £192 million was spent on cancer drugs; £230 million was spent on other services, such as specialist staff; £113 million was mainly invested in new equipment; and £103 million went towards staff training, modernising services and palliative care.

Commenting on the figures, Professor Richards said: “These figures show that the money being allocated to cancer services is making a real difference, with more drugs, staff and equipment being provided.

“More money than ever before is now going into tackling the disease and thousands of lives are being saved.”

Health Minister, Rosie Winterton, said that significant progress had been made towards reorganising, standardising and rejuvenating cancer services. She said: “We have some of the fastest falling death rates from cancer in Europe. The latest figures show that cancer mortality has fallen by over 12% in the last six years. This equates to around 33,000 lives saved over this period.

“There’s still more to do, but we are delivering better treatment, more quickly, to more people than ever before and there are thousands of people alive and well who would not be without these improvements.”

(KMcA/SP)