CANCER survival rates in Britain will be the best in Europe after Health Secretary Sajid Javid declared war on the disease.
He will reveal details today of a radical ten-year plan to speed up detection and boost outcomes.
Ministers want to harness scientific advances, such as artificial intelligence and mRNA vaccines.
Half of all Brits will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
But despite improvements in survival over recent decades, experts fear progress has stalled because of the pandemic.
It comes as the NHS faces a mammoth backlog of cases, with nearly 50,000 fewer referrals than expected since the Covid crisis.
Speaking at the Francis Crick Institute today, Mr Javid will say: “Let this be the day where we declare a national war on cancer.
“We have published the call for evidence for a new ten-year Cancer Plan for England, a searching new vision for how we will lead the world in cancer care.
“This plan will show how we are learning the lessons from the pandemic, and apply them to improving cancer services.
“It will take a far-reaching look at how we want cancer care to be ten years from now, looking at all stages, from prevention, to diagnosis, to treatment and vaccines.”
Hiring more cancer doctors and nurses is a key plank of the strategy.
Britain has one of the worst survival rates in western Europe.
