John Baron MP calls for one-year survival rates in NHS Delivery Dashboard

Extra tier of accountability needs to include specific outcome measures

On Wednesday, as Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer (APPGC), John Baron MP spoke at the Westminster launch of a major new report by the Cancer Campaigning Group – a coalition of national cancer charities. The report covers all aspects of cancer policy, including a chapter on improving earlier diagnosis – cancer’s ‘magic key’.

The APPGC has long campaigned for improvements to earlier diagnosis and, following the health reforms, successfully lobbied for the inclusion of one-year cancer survival rates into the NHS’s new local accountability framework. As a result, one-year survival data is now available for each individual Clinical Commissioning Group, enabling an assessment as to its performance at earlier diagnosis – as the earlier a cancer is detected, the more successfully it can be treated.

However, earlier this year, NHS England established a new tier of accountability by means of an overarching ‘Delivery Dashboard’, which ranks above the local accountability framework. Unfortunately, this new tier of accountability focuses more on processes rather than specific outcomes (such as earlier diagnosis), and so there is a danger the emphasis on one-year survival might be lost.

The APPGC, and the Cancer Campaigning Group in their report, are therefore calling for the inclusion of one-year survival rates into the NHS Delivery Dashboard.

John said,

“The NHS must deliver earlier diagnosis if it is to achieve its target of saving an extra 5,000 cancer lives each year. The publication of one-year survival rates for each Clinical Commissioning Group is therefore a powerful tool to boost earlier diagnosis – Groups will have to raise their game if they are falling short. This is excellent news for cancer patients.”

“However, the Delivery Dashboard does not include specific outcome measures, focusing more on processes. It is essential that one-year survival rates are included in the Dashboard. Only then will improving cancer survival return to the forefront of the local NHS’ priorities.”