Prime Minister Gordon Brown with a Marie
Curie Nurse
Launched by Health Secretary Alan Johnson, the strategy is a comprehensive five-year plan to improve NHS cancer services.
Emerging findings from the pilot Marie Curie Delivering Choice project found that, since its inception, not only had 25 per cent more patients been given the choice of where they would like to die, but the total cost for end of life care had decreased by eight per cent.
Public Affairs Manager Eva Morrison said: “It is testament to our commitment to health care services and partnership working that the Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme has been mentioned in this new cancer strategy.
“We want to help build world class cancer services which provide top quality care for terminally-ill patients. This strategy should enable us to do more for a greater number of patients across England.”
The Cancer Reform Strategy is the biggest review of cancer services since the Cancer Plan of 2000 and aims to transform existing cancer care for NHS patients in England.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the reforms would serve as a “road map to a higher standard of care available to all,” and that the plan demonstrated the “very highest priority” attached to fighting the disease.
For full details of the plan please see the Department of Health website.
December 2007
