Cancer survival gains are set to reverse because of staff shortages, MPs warn

Urgent steps are needed to prevent the UK from losing gains made in recent years on cancer survival rates and to halt a predicted rise in unnecessary cancer deaths because of delayed diagnosis and treatment, an influential parliamentary committee has said.

The Health and Social Care Committee published its report on cancer services on 5 April,1 in which it criticised the government for its lack of “serious effort” on improving cancer workforce shortages.

Evidence provided to the committee by the government and the NHS demonstrated that the NHS was not on track to meet its target on early cancer diagnosis—namely, the NHS Long Term Plan’s target to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage I or II by 2028. The …