Wales Cancer Alliance responds to the Welsh Government’s announcement on the new long-term cancer strategy

The Welsh Government announcement concerning the long term cancer strategy is here and the written statement is here.

Chair of the Wales Cancer Alliance, Lowri Griffiths said:

“This is a milestone moment for cancer in Wales, the Wales Cancer Alliance has long called for this approach. In the recent election many of Wales’s political parties committed to a cancer strategy. We are impressed by and welcome the strong cross-party political support behind this approach to cancer.

For far too long, Wales has been the only UK nation operating without a long-term, strategic approach for cancer. Moving away from a disjointed patchwork of initiatives towards a long-term vision that is shaped and has buy-in from patients and clinicians is exactly what patients and our stretched NHS desperately needs.

To ensure this process delivers a truly transformative cancer strategy for Wales, we must focus on building from the ground up. As outlined in our manifesto, Fixing the Foundations and associated roundtable report, a successful strategy must deliver on four essential areas:

A complete pathway: The strategy cannot just focus on parts of the pathway in isolation from the whole. It must comprehensively cover everything from research and prevention, screening to early diagnosis; treatment, living with cancer and end-of-life support. The strategy must also include all patient groups and ensure groups overlooked for too long, such as children and young people, are supported.

Strong leadership and accountability: We need clear, transparent, lines of accountability and governance across NHS Wales – from the Welsh Government, to NHS Performance and Improvement to Local Health Boards. Joined up, long term planning and improvement will finally allow Wales to tackle the post-pandemic backlog, end unacceptable variation in waiting times and treatment, and address the significant cancer challenges concerning the workforce, health inequalities, and an ageing population.

Co-production with patients and charities: The third sector and people with lived experience must be embedded as equal partners throughout the design and implementation of the cancer strategy and the subsequent delivery of patient-centred care.

Better collection and use of cancer data: Collecting and analysing accurate data is vital for both developing and delivering cancer services – identifying new trends, testing new services and making the case for change. Wales must do better in this space. As a small nation of 3 million people, the routine collection, analysis and use of cancer data would help us properly understand and eliminate inequalities.

The true test of this strategy will be whether it delivers meaningful progress across these four areas.

We warmly welcome the Cabinet Minister’s commitment to starting this process.

The Wales Cancer Alliance stands ready to work alongside the Welsh Government, health boards, and clinicians to turn this announcement into world-class, long-term activity that improves cancer outcomes and saves lives.”