John Baron MP presses Health Minister on earlier cancer diagnosis

MP says 10,000 extra lives could be saved each year

At Health Questions in the House of Commons today, John asked,

“The Secretary of State is absolutely right to put the one-year cancer survival metric at the heart of the future cancer plan, in order to encourage earlier diagnosis – something for which the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer has been campaigning for some time. However, will the Government also ensure that proper funding is attached to this metric so that we finally begin to close the gap when it comes to international cancer survival averages?”

The Cancer Minister, Jo Churchill MP, responded that the Government recognises the importance of the one-year metric, and that better data would help improve cancer treatment.

John said afterwards,

“A previous Government estimate suggested 10,000 lives could be saved each year if we matched average international survival rates. This remains an inconvenient truth, despite survival rates improving. Properly measuring how many people survive cancer for one year after diagnosis will be transformative in encouraging the NHS to diagnose earlier, but it needs to be properly funded. I intend following this up with the Government.”