This week the UK government has announced a key part of its plan to improve cancer care in England. In order to improve the care that patients receive, NHS England will introduce a target  to ensure that patients are given a confirmed diagnosis or all-clear within four weeks of being referred by their GP.

The target the government  is aiming for is that by 2020 95% of patients will receive a confirmed diagnosed within four weeks. To achieve this the NHS has to invest £300M a year until 2020 and train 200 extra staff to perform diagnostic tests for certain cancers.

This 95% target by 2020 was recommended by the independent cancer taskforce and the plans to achieve this will be piloted in five hospitals before being rolled out nationally. It is hoped that achieving this target will save 11,000 lives a year by increasing the number of cancers diagnosed at an early stage.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK’s Health Secretary said:

“For people who are worried they may have cancer, waiting for that all important test result is a nerve-wracking time. We have a duty to make sure this period of uncertainty is as short as possible. For those who get the all-clear, they will have peace of mind sooner. Those who sadly have cancer will get treatment much quicker and we will save thousands of lives as a result.”