The Prime Minister has pledged to introduce one-to-one support at home for all cancer patients if the Government stays in power after the forthcoming general election. Gordon Brown made the pledge during a speech at the health think-tank the King’s Fund, during which he set out plans to provide more choice, control and personalisation in health and social care.
Acknowledging the fact that Britain’s population is ageing, the prime minister said that the NHS and care system need to change to meet this growing demand. He claimed that people want a service that is “personal to their needs, tailored to their aspirations and responsive to their choices”, while still being affordable and cost-effective. Gordon Brown told the audience: “Our plans to reform our community and primary care services will include a commitment to deliver over the next five years dedicated nursing for all cancer patients – a commitment that we expect will benefit around 1.6 million patients, offering first class care in their own homes.” Royal College of Nursing chief executive and general secretary, Dr Peter Carter, welcomed the announcement, commenting: “Investing in specialist nurses now is crucial not just to patients but to reduce the costs to the NHS from unnecessary complications.” All cancer survivors will receive “personalised care” under plans published in the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative vision. The vision sets out that all cancer survivors should have:
• A personalised assessment and care plan.
• Support to self-manage their condition.
• Information on the long-term effects of living with and beyond cancer.
• Access to specialist medical care for complications that occur after cancer.
National cancer director Mike Richards said: “For many of the 1.6 million people living with and beyond cancer in England, we need to improve follow-up care to meet their medical, psychological, social, spiritual, financial and information needs. We need to create services that are tailored to meet the needs of the individual, rather than the ‘one size fits all’ model which has been the traditional pattern of follow-up cancer care. “To do this we are providing £1.6 million to Macmillan for this vital work and we have created 38 pilot sites around the country which are currently testing improvements to care.”
