NHS cancer experts recruited in their hundreds to speed up diagnosis

The Health Secretary is to announce plans to hire 500 more NHS cancer experts amid warnings of a looming “crisis” in the workforce.

Jeremy Hunt will make the pledge as he says more than 6,000 people are alive today who would have died without recent improvements in cancer mortality rates.

Today he will unveil plans to speed up cancer diagnosis, so patients can start treatment sooner.

Late diagnosis is one of the reasons why Britain lags behind most developed nations in cancer survival.

A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed the UK to have the 11th worst mortality rates among all 35 countries, with rates similar to the Czech republic and Lithuania.

But today Mr Hunt will tell the Britain Against Cancer conference that improvements since 2010 mean 6,500 people are alive today who owe their lives to improvements in NHS care.

He will also announce an expansion in the cancer workforce, amid fears of growing shortages, with a national review of radiology now underway.

Ministers will promise to recruit 300 radiographers - specialists who use x-rays and ultrasound to identify certain cancers - and 200 clinical endoscopists, who investigate areas such as the bowel and stomach, using special cameras.

Mr Hunt said: "The NHS has made amazing progress in diagnosing and treating cancer - it's incredible that 6,500 more people are alive today who would not have been had mortality rates stayed the same as in 2010.

"We want to save more lives and to do that we need more specialists who can investigate and diagnose cancer quickly. These extra specialists will go a long way to help the NHS save an extra 30,000 lives by 2020."

It follows the anonuncement of plans to introduce a maximum four week wait for diagnosis by 2020.

Health officials said that since 2010, the number of people seen by a specialist for suspected cancer has more than doubled, with a 49 per cent increase in diagnostic tests.

Overall, the number of patients starting treatment for cancer as a result has risen by 24 per ecnt since 2010, the figures show.

However there are growing concerns about shortages of NHS staff to carry out tests.

Last week the Care Quality Commission  launched a national review into radiologists in the NHS after they discovered that in one hospital junior doctors were left to interpret chest x-rays, including those for suspected lung cancer. At least three patients came to serious harm as a result, including two deaths.

Meanwhile a report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer said the NHS would “struggle” to make planned improvements in cancer care, unless progress was sped up.

Fiona Hazell, from charity Breast Cancer Now, said: "While we have seen significant advances in recent decades, we believe that progress on breast cancer is now stalling.

"This worrying frontline report highlights growing areas for concern that continue to hinder progress on cancer, including workforce shortages, funding delays and a lack of accountability and data collection.

"These delays in progress are directly affecting patient care, with a diagnostic workforce already at crisis capacity also likely to impact screening, early diagnosis and, ultimately, patient outcomes.”