29 October 2004
Primary care trusts are failing cancer patients and should be stripped of their budgets for cancer services, MPs said this week.
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer said PCTs did not have the expertise to commission cancer services. As a result, access to services varied widely.
Committee chair Ian Gibson said cancer commissioning should be given to the 34 cancer networks – district hospitals that provide specialist cancer treatment in alliance with PCTs and voluntary groups. He said: 'The budget for cancer services must go directly to cancer networks to allow them to plan for sustained improvements in cancer care.'
However, Health Secretary John Reid, announcing a £37.5m, two-year screening programme for bowel cancer, said cancer deaths had fallen by 12% since 1997.
PFoct2004
