Launch of the NHS National Cancer Plan

It was World Cancer Day on 4 February, and this year the day also marked the launch of the much-anticipated NHS National Cancer Plan. Femi Odewale, Managing Director of North East London Cancer Alliance, reflects on what this means nationally and locally.

“The theme for World Cancer Day this year was United by Unique – a theme that resonates strongly in north east London. We serve one of the most diverse populations in the country, with many communities living in areas of significant deprivation.

It felt fitting to launch such a bold, ambitious and exciting plan on a globally recognised day for cancer. It is equally fitting that reducing health inequalities sits at the heart of the NHS National Cancer Plan. This has long been a core priority for North East London Cancer Alliance, shaped directly by the needs of our population.

We have already been working hard to address inequalities in cancer outcomes across our area. For example, we have focused on improving survival rates from womb cancer among women from Black African, Black Caribbean and South Asian communities, through our award-winning You Need To Know campaign.

We have worked with local mosques to improve uptake of bowel cancer screening, helping to reach people who may not otherwise engage with traditional screening routes.

Our Lung Cancer Screening Programme is delivering particularly strong results, improving early diagnosis of lung cancer in some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in north east London.

Alongside this, we continue our outreach work to speak directly to local communities, raising awareness of cancer signs and symptoms and encouraging participation in screening programmes.

One of our flagship initiatives – HPV self-sampling for cervical screening – was referenced in the National Cancer Plan as a case study, highlighting the impact of this work and the dedication of the teams involved. HPV self-sampling kits were distributed across five boroughs in north and east London with historically low screening uptake.

More than 27,000 people were offered kits, with 8,838 samples returned. Importantly, 64% of responses came from people from ethnic minority backgrounds and 60% from those living in more deprived areas. This level of engagement significantly exceeded previous campaigns and demonstrates the potential of self-sampling to reduce health inequalities.

NHS Long Term Plan and cancer priorities

The National Cancer Plan aligns closely with the NHS Long Term Plan and is built around three major shifts in how cancer services are delivered:

• From analogue to digital – harnessing new technology to improve access, efficiency and outcomes
• From sickness to prevention – accelerating work on prevention and earlier diagnosis
• From hospital to community – strengthening support before, during and after treatment, and for people living with and beyond cancer

These shifts will provide a clear focus as we refine our delivery plans for the coming financial year.

On the digital front, we have already introduced the use of artificial intelligence to speed up lung cancer diagnosis, reducing waiting times for results from around three weeks to just three days. Similar approaches are being implemented for skin cancer diagnosis. We have also introduced a virtual hospital tour to help patients feel more prepared and supported ahead of their appointments.

Prevention continues to be a priority, including campaigns such as LDN Get Sun Set, which raises awareness of skin cancer and the importance of protecting your skin.

Community Diagnostic Centres – three of which are now operating in north east London – are providing a one-stop diagnostic service closer to home. Alongside this, we are developing initiatives to support people living with and beyond cancer, from health and wellbeing programmes to helping people stay active.

National priorities and local performance

The National Cancer Plan sets out six core priorities:

• Driving improvements in NHS cancer performance
• Becoming a global leader in cancer outcomes by 2035
• Designing cancer care around people’s lives
• Delivering world-class cancer care
• Supporting world-class cancer research
• Tackling cancer in children and young people
• Prioritising rare and less common cancers

North East London Cancer Alliance is already one of the top-performing alliances in the country. We consistently meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which aims for 75% of patients to receive a diagnosis or ruling out of cancer within 28 days.

According to the latest national performance data, North East London is the only cancer alliance without any hospitals in the bottom quartile for any of the national cancer standards.

Primary care, VCSE and neighbourhood partnerships

Partnership working at neighbourhood level will be critical to delivering the ambitions of the National Cancer Plan in north east London. Primary care, community pharmacies and our voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) partners are often the most trusted and accessible points of contact for local residents, particularly in communities experiencing the greatest health inequalities.

By working together at neighbourhood level, we can meet people where they are – whether that is through faith settings, community centres, local events or everyday interactions with frontline services – and ensure that cancer prevention, screening and early diagnosis are truly embedded in people’s lives.

Our VCSE partners in particular play a vital role in reaching communities who may face barriers to accessing traditional services, from language and digital exclusion to mistrust and stigma.

Combined with the leadership of primary care networks, this neighbourhood-based approach allows us to tailor interventions to local needs, build trust over time and deliver more personalised, culturally sensitive cancer support. This collaborative model will continue to be central to how we reduce inequalities and improve outcomes across north east London.

Our workforce

None of this progress would be possible without our workforce, and supporting, growing and sustaining the cancer workforce across north east London is a key priority for us. We are in the process of launching a new cancer workforce strategy, developed in partnership with our providers and system partners, to ensure we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right places to deliver high-quality, compassionate care now and in the future.

This strategy will focus not only on recruitment and retention, but also on supporting career progression and valuing the contribution of every part of the workforce – from clinicians and diagnostic teams to cancer navigators, community outreach workers and non-clinical staff. By investing in our workforce and creating opportunities to work across organisational and neighbourhood boundaries, we can build a resilient, motivated workforce that reflects the communities we serve and is equipped to deliver the ambitions of the National Cancer Plan.

My thoughts as Managing Director

What is set out in the National Cancer Plan gives us a real opportunity to build on the strong platform we have created over the last few years.

Personally, I am very excited by what the plan offers. It is ambitious, but also realistic and achievable. We have already made significant progress over the past five years, and the potential for what we can deliver over the next ten years is genuinely inspiring.”

Special episode of Taking Control of Cancer

To mark World Cancer Day and the launch of the National Cancer Plan, North East London Cancer Alliance recorded a special episode of the Taking Control of Cancer podcast.

Host Steve Bland explored the plan with Femi Odewale and was joined by Dr Jagan John, who shared reflections from a primary care perspective.

Listen to the episode here:

Spotify: https://bit.ly/4thydNp
Apple: https://bit.ly/4qX9Oep
Amazon: https://bit.ly/4avjVRP
YouTube: https://bit.ly/4khCCvK