By Phillipa Anamaoh-
Theresa May announced a ‘new cancer strategy’ today at the Conservative Party Conference, which she hopes will improve cancer survival rates. The Prime Minister had enthused the crowd as she danced to the stage to the tune of Abba.
The prime minister defended her controversial Brexit strategy, telling the audience ” I am standing up for Britain, before promising the Conservatives they could end a decade of austerity and see off “the Jeremy Corbyn party” if they unite behind her Brexit plans.
In an upbeat speech closing the party’s conference in Birmingham, which has been marred by divisions over Europe, the prime minister warned her colleagues that if they failed to back her, Brexit could unravel.
“If we all go off in different directions in pursuit of our own visions of the perfect Brexit, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all,” she said.
In promising a significant improvement in the survival of cancer sufferers in the foreseeable future. May vowed that in ten years time 55,000 more people in England will be still be alive 5 years after diagnosis . As part of the long-term plan for the NHS, a package of measures issued across the country w the early detection rate increasing from 1 in 2 to 3 in 4 by 2028.
The strategy will overhaul screening programmes and bring about new measures such as lowering the recommended age for bowel cancer screenings from 60 to 50 and adopting a new easier to use test (the Faecal Immunochemical Test) which detects cancer at an earlier stage
More diagnostic centres with state-of the-art technology will be built, with an investment in the latest scanners as well as a higher investment in breakthrough research.
With these investments screening programmes will be made more accessible and easier to use, with those at risk benefiting from new tests for bowel cancer, mobile lung screening units and same-day testing within diagnosis centres.
FACTS AND STATISTICS
Patients diagnosed early, at stages 1 or 2, have the best chance of long-term survival. For example, 96% of people with colorectal cancer diagnosed at stage 1 will survive one year or more, compared with 46% diagnosed at stage 4.
Currently, 52% of the top 10 cancers are diagnosed at stages 1 and 2. The government aims to increase this to 75% by 2028.
As part of the new measures the government will utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to better target at-risk populations and bring screening closer to home
MAY’S STRATEGY AND TRAGEDY
The Prime Minister also shared her personal tragic experience with the audience about the recent loss of her goddaughter dying of cancer. A visibly heartbroken Theresa May stated,
“A few years ago my goddaughter was diagnosed with cancer. She underwent treatment and it seemed to be working. But then the cancer came back. Last summer she sent me a text to tell me that she was hoping to see another Christmas. But she didn’t make it.”
Revealing the new plan as not only public but also poignantly personal the Prime Minister added,
“Every life saved means a parent, a partner, a child, a godmother spared the pain of losing a loved one before their time.” Choice words, and whatever political views people may have about the prime minister, most will concur with the view that a nation that prioritizes healthcare over other considerations, and focuses on the new and innovative ways of maintaining it, focuses on the most important thing of all- health.
The prime minister closed the party’s conference in Birmingham, which has been marred by divisions over Europe, the prime minister warned her colleagues that if they failed to back her, Brexit could unravel.
“If we all go off in different directions in pursuit of our own visions of the perfect Brexit, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all,” she said.