Funding and support for Cancer Alliances
Cancer Alliances work closely with their STP(s) and ICS(s) to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan commitments for cancer for their populations.
Cancer Alliances look at the care and support patients should expect to receive from diagnosis to follow-up across their whole area, so they can address variation and implement best practice. NHS England and NHS Improvement provide Cancer Alliances with funding, support and guidance to assist in their work.
Funding for 2019/20
Funding has been made available to all Cancer Alliances in 2019/20 on a fair shares basis to support delivery of the Planning Guidance priorities for cancer. This helps to enable delivery across the following areas:
- Supporting sustainable operational performance;
- Improving screening uptake and early diagnosis;
- Continuing delivery of personalised care interventions and stratified follow up pathways.
Additional funding is being made available to the ten Alliances that are hosting projects as part of the National Targeted Lung Health Checks Programme.
The funding details for 2019/20 are in the table below:
| Cancer Alliance | Planning Guidance Allocation (£m) | Targeted Lung Health Checks – Fixed Element (£m)** |
| Northern | 7.3 | 0.5 |
| West Yorkshire and Harrogate | 5.5 | 0.3 |
| Humber, Coast and Vale | 2.9 | 0.3 |
| South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw | 3.3 | 0.4 |
| Lancashire and South Cumbria | 4 | 0.7 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | 6 | 0.7 |
| Greater Manchester* | 0.4 | |
| West Midlands | 12.6 | |
| East Midlands | 9.4 | 0.7 |
| East of England | 13.2 | 0.7 |
| North, Central and East London | 7.2 | |
| RM Partners | 10.3 | |
| South East London | 3.9 | |
| Kent and Medway | 3.8 | |
| Surrey and Sussex | 6.2 | |
| Thames Valley | 5.3 | |
| Wessex | 5.4 | 0.3 |
| Peninsula | 3.8 | |
| Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire | 5.8 | |
| Total |
115.9 | 5 |
*Greater Manchester receives funding for cancer as part of their devolution agreement.
**Further funding will be made available later in 2019/20 to Alliances leading Targeted Lung Health Check projects to support delivery according to project status and need.
Support for Cancer Alliances in 2019/20
Along with funding, Cancer Alliances are receiving additional support from the NHS Cancer Programme to transform care for cancer patients. This includes:
- Dedicated resources from our analysis, evidence and data service (run in partnership with Public Health England), which give Cancer Alliances access to timely and consistent national data, provide tools, models and analysis of variation, and offer advice to improve local evaluations;
- Development support for Cancer Alliance leadership teams;
- Platforms for developing networks and peer learning, including:
- A series of national events for Cancer Alliances to share best practice and information;
- An online space for Alliances to share updates, learning and to discuss their work;
- Regular webinars and digital ‘share and learn’ events focused on the priority delivery areas of the NHS Cancer Programme;
- Supporting Cancer Alliances to increase their capacity and capability for patient and public engagement;
- Resource packs, toolkits, specifications and guidance to aid planning and delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan commitments.