Overview
- The government will add cancer specialist training places at deprived, rural and coastal NHS trusts to reduce geographic disparities in care.
- Ministers will work with the royal medical colleges to increase the number of clinicians specialising in clinical and medical oncology in under-served areas.
- From April 2027, NICE will appraise new diagnostic tests and devices, with approved technologies funded and offered consistently across NHS trusts.
- Initial technologies named for assessment include AI to read chest X-rays for lung cancer, tissue-analysis software for prostate and breast cancers, techniques for unexplained vaginal bleeding, and the ‘sponge on a string’ test for oesophageal cancer.
- NHS England’s November figures show 76.5% received a diagnosis or exclusion within 28 days, 55.1% had cancer confirmed within 28 days, and 70.2% began treatment within 62 days, with a 75% 62-day target set for March 2026 as the National Cancer Plan is scheduled for 4 February.