Cancer Plan - call for evidence. Share your views

News - 7 February 2022

The government has launched a call for evidence for the 10-Year Cancer Plan. Although descried as a call for evidence, much of it asks for people's views about priorities and their experiences. Share you views.
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This call for evidence will inform the development of the government’s 10-Year Cancer Plan for England. Rather than a formal consultation on specific proposals, it constitutes a request for ideas and evidence.

It will run for a period of 8 weeks and is open to everyone aged 16 and over. You can respond as an individual, or on behalf of an organisation.

The easiest way to participate in the call for evidence is by completing the online survey.

This call for evidence closes at 11:45pm on 1 April 2022.

Click here to take the survey

The plan will build on the NHS Long Term Plan. One in every two people in this country will be told they have cancer at some point in their lives. The NHS Long Term Plan, published in 2019, set an ambition to save thousands more lives each year by dramatically improving how we diagnose and treat cancer. The Department of Health and Social Care is seeking the views of individuals, professionals and organisations to understand whether and how we can do more to make progress against this ambition, and to build on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

- increasing the number of people diagnosed at an early stage, where treatment can prove much more effective;

- boosting the cancer workforce;

- tackling disparities and inequalities, including in cancer diagnosis times and ensuring recovery from the pandemic is delivered in a fair way. For instance, the ‘Help Us Help You’ cancer awareness campaign will be directed towards people from more deprived groups and ethnic minorities; and

- intensifying research on mRNA vaccines and therapeutics for cancer – this will be achieved through the UK’s global leadership and supporting industry to develop new cancer treatments by combining expertise in cancer immunotherapy treatment and the vaccine capabilities developed throughout the pandemic.

- intensifying research on new early diagnostic tools to catch cancer at an earlier stage.

- improving prevention of cancer through tackling the big known risk factors such as smoking.

The key questions covered are:

  • Cancer signs and symptoms

  • Access to information

  • Cancer treatment

  • Priorities for the cancer plan

  • Delivering the priorities

  • Improving data and translating research into practice