England’s top cancer doctor has urged people not to hesitate to get checked as new research revealed that nearly half of the public have concerns about seeking help during the coronavirus pandemic. One in 10 people would not contact their GP even if they had a lump or a new mole which did not go […]

At the same time as managing the most serious global health threat in a century, the NHS has struck a deal which will see hundreds of people a year benefit from a ‘game-changing’ new cancer treatment. The new drug, larotrectinib, will initially be used for children, young people and some adults, and targets tumours according […]

Hundreds of lives will be spared every year in England thanks to a more sensitive cervical screening test rolled out as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. NHS experts said that there is “potential” to eliminate cervical cancer completely thanks to the change in primary test within the NHS Cervical Cancer Screening Programme, combined […]

The NHS has the opportunity to upgrade cancer screening to save thousands more lives each year, a major report said today. Leading expert Professor Sir Mike Richards was jointly commissioned by NHS chief executive Simon Stevens and Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock to make recommendations on overhauling national screening programmes, as part of […]

Joint statement from NHS England and Improvement, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and InHealth. The NHS is committed to detecting more cancers earlier to save more lives. That means a major increase in scanning and diagnostics, so patients can easily access services like PET-CT scanning. To that end, NHS England and Improvement, Oxford University […]

The common belief that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) women are not at risk of cervical cancer is fake news that has created a dangerous screening gap, the NHS has warned today. Up to 50,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual women have never been for a cervical cancer screening test because they wrongly think they are […]

The NHS is preparing to fast-track the introduction of ‘game changing’ new cancer drugs that target tumours according to their genetic make-up rather than where they originate in the body, Simon Stevens will announce today. The revolutionary treatments – known as ‘tumour agnostic’ drugs – can be used against a wide range of cancers and […]

The NHS should roll out online booking, out of hours appointments and text reminders to boost the uptake of breast, cervical and other screening services, leading expert Professor Sir Mike Richards said today. Sir Mike, who was the first NHS cancer director and is a former CQC chief inspector of hospitals, is leading a major […]

An innovation that can reduce the side-effects of radiotherapy for prostate cancer patients by over 70 per cent will be rolled out across the NHS, as part of the Long Term Plan to put cutting-edge treatments at the heart of people’s care. Thanks to a deal struck by the NHS with manufacturer Boston Scientific, hospitals […]

For the first time last year, the NHS in England carried out more than two million checks on people who feared they might have cancer. In 2018, patients underwent a record 2.2 million cancer checks following urgent referral by their GP, almost 6,000 a day or more than four every minute. That was an increase […]