© 1999 by Oxford University Press
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 91, No. 23, 1999,
December 1, 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press
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Britain Upgrades Its Cancer Program
Britain's Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, recently announced a series of moves that would step up that government's effort against cancer, beginning with the appointment of Professor Michael Richards as new National Cancer Director.Milburn said the measures he is taking will make cancer care under Britain's National Health Service fairer and faster.
"I am making cancer treatment a personal priority in my modernization plans for the NHS," he said. "Fighting the war against cancer will take time and money but fight it we must."
Milburn said that his 10-year plan to modernize cancer care will see services improve year by year and that his aim is to cut cancer death rates by 20%, resulting in 100,000 fewer deaths in the next 10 years.
Richards, who has been head of the Division of Oncology and Palliative Care and the Sainsbury Professor of Palliative Medicine at Guy's, King's, and St. Thomas' Hospital and King's College, London, will spearhead the delivery of a national cancer care blueprint and ensure that tough new standards are implemented across the NHS, Milburn said.
One of the British measures is to infuse nearly $130 million into the cancer program over the next 2 years to cut waiting times for patients with suspected cancer and to step up modernization of services.
Last May, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who set out the government's 10-year cancer program, said nearly $114 million had been invested directly into cancer treatment in the NHS, another $151 million was being spent on cancer equipment, and that about $37 million would be spent on palliative care and prevention services. (See News, July 21, 1999.)
Milburn said the government will release in the new year "early clear-cut guidance on drugs (the taxanes) to treat breast and ovarian cancer." Draft guidance is expected this winter. The guidance is being produced by NICE, a new independent body of medical experts.
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