Labour announce fully costed NHS cancer treatment plan

Tomorrow Labour will announce that if elected in May they would invest in new cancer equipment for GPs surgeries and radiotherapy machines in treatment centres.

Ed Miliband will lay out Labour’s plans in a speech tomorrow in Cambridge. He’ll compare his party’s proposal, which also include a fully costed one week cancer test guarantee, with the Tory-led government’s “meaningless IOUs and failing plan.”

The Labour leader will stress that the last government won’t have met it’s own key cancer treatment target for this year; over the next year it’s estimated that 23,000 cancer patients will have to wait more than two months to start their treatment.

Stats also show that the number of people waiting more than 6 weeks for cancer tests have shot up four-fold since the Coalition came to power.

Ahead of this announcement, Miliband has said:

“The NHS needs a real plan with real money right now – not an IOU. 

“Yesterday I set out our NHS Rescue Plan for our first 100 days, our first Budget and our first year in office. Now I want to set out the next stage of our fully-funded plan, an investment of £150 million a year, every year in the key equipment patients need to get quick access to cancer tests and improve early diagnosis. 

“There can be nothing more worrying for patients and their families than waiting to hear if you have this terrible disease. Speeding up cancer tests will help reduce the anxiety of waiting for a test result, improve early diagnosis, and ensure those who need it can start treatment sooner.

“And we know that early diagnosis dramatically improves the chances of successful treatment while saving the NHS on the costs of late intervention.

“So we are raising money through a Mansion Tax, closing loopholes enjoyed by the hedge funds and imposing a new levy on tobacco firms – to pay for the equipment needed to deliver our guarantee of one-week cancer tests.

“What a contrast with the Tories who promised extra money before for cancer treatment but ended up cutting cancer budgets. They have run a government that has taken the NHS backwards and now we have the shabby sight of them sneaking out evidence of their own failure on cancer treatment under cover of darkness and dissolution, hoping no-one will notice.

“I’ve got news for David Cameron: the game’s up, you broke your promises on the NHS before and no one will believe you again in the future.”