MP: A focus on outcomes will increase survival rates
It was recently announced that six cancer waiting time targets, so-called process targets, are to be scrapped in favour of focusing on just three – diagnosis with cancer within 28 days of referral, starting treatment within two months of referral and starting treatment one month after a decision to treat. For many years John Baron MP has been campaigning for the NHS to scrap these process targets and instead prioritise outcome measures, such as one-year survival rates, as a means of increasing survival rates. To this end, he successfully tabled an amendment to the Health & Care Act 2022.
John said,
“I welcome the NHS scrapping these waiting time targets. Many have not been met for years, and process targets do not focus attention on what really matters to patients and their families – whether they will get better and survive their illness.”
“The main reason the NHS lags so far behind comparable healthcare systems abroad when it comes to cancer survival is because it continues to diagnose cancers far too late, when treatment is much less likely to be successful. In addition to scrapping these process targets, the NHS should also focus on outcome measures, such as one-year survival rates, which will encourage earlier diagnosis and therefore catch cancers more quickly.”
“This focus on outcomes is the purpose of my Clause Five of the Health & Care Act. I am pleased the NHS is finally moving in the right direction, but there is still more to be done.”
