NHS patients are set to benefit from early access to potentially life-saving new medicines, including cutting-edge gene therapies, thanks to a new Innovative Medicines Fund and £680 million of ringfenced funding, the NHS chief executive has announced today. The Innovative Medicines Fund (IMF) will build upon the success of the reformed Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), […]

‘Skin snaps’ and rapid tests for same day diagnosis are among a package of measures to get more people checked for cancer, the NHS said today. The NHS is investing £20 million to speed up the rollout of these plans, so that thousands more people can get potentially lifesaving cancer checks. ‘Teledermatology’ is being used […]

The number of people waiting longer than 18 and 52 weeks to begin non-urgent treatment has fallen significantly despite record numbers of people attending A&E in June, NHS figures today reveal. Patients waiting longer than 18 weeks for elective care dropped by more than 80,000 while those waiting more than a year fell by 50,000 […]

Operations and other routine care are ahead of ambitions set out in April with mental health services back at pre-pandemic levels, NHS figures show today. The number of people waiting over 52 weeks to begin treatment dropped by more than 50,000 in April, while by May, operations and other elective activity had already climbed to […]

Hard working NHS staff saw a record number of people, who were referred for urgent cancer checks, in March, new figures have revealed today. Almost quarter of a million people with suspected cancer were seen as NHS services began to bounce back after the peak of the winter COVID-19 wave. More than 230,000 people were […]

A world-leading treatment that halves the risk of lung cancer patients suffering a return of the disease after undergoing treatment, is to be rolled out by NHS England. In a trial of the drug – the first of its kind – around nine out of ten patients treated, remained alive and disease-free after two years […]

An injection that cuts the amount of time breast cancer patients spend in hospital from two and a half hours to as little as five minutes is being rolled out across the country by NHS England. Breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy will be offered a new combined treatment called PHESGO, which is injected and takes […]

Thousands of people with cancer can benefit from ‘COVID friendly’ treatments from home, the NHS announced today. More than 30 different drugs are available to treat patients, offering benefits such as fewer hospital visits or a reduced impact on their immune system. Around 8,000 people have already benefitted from the treatment ‘swaps’ since April helping […]

Miniature cameras which patients can swallow to get checked for cancer are being trialled across the NHS. The imaging technology, in a capsule no bigger than a pill, can provide a diagnosis within hours. Known as a colon capsule endoscopy, the cameras are the latest NHS innovation to help patients access cancer checks at home. […]

More than 31,000 women will be offered kits to carry out smear tests in the privacy and convenience of their own homes in a trial, NHS England has announced. The swab tests will be posted to women or given out by a GP to increase take-up of screening for the Human Papillomavirus Virus (HPV), which […]