NHS Ten Year Plan and Cancer

The NHS 10-Year Health Plan (“Fit for the Future”) was published in July 2025 and sets out how England’s health service will transform over the next decade.

A core aim is to improve cancer outcomes, recognising that outcomes for major killers like cancer currently lag behind those in other countries.

Here is the open letter to all NHS staff about the 10-year health plan: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/fit-for-the-future-10-year-health-plan-for-england-open-letter-to-staff/

The full plan can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future

Impact on cancer

What does this mean for North East London Cancer Alliance? The NHS 10-year plan contains information on some of the national priorities for cancer, such as:

• Full roll out of lung cancer screening.
• Expanded HPV vaccination catch-up for school-leavers to support the elimination of cervical cancer by 2040.
• Genomics-based prevention and screening.
• Making screening as accessible as possible, booking online link with NHS digital app.
• Offer of self-referral for tests, tracking, and communication via the NHS App – critical for improving patient pathways and reducing diagnostic delays.
• Cancer diagnostics and follow-ups to increasingly shift to Neighbourhood Health Centres.
• A new workforce strategy to support cancer care.
• Targeted action to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes.
• AI-driven triage and diagnostics can alleviate workforce pressures and improve time-to-diagnosis.
• Prioritise the review of personalised cancer vaccines, with 10,000 cancer vaccines to be provided in the next 5 years
• Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to look at how cancer in children and young people can be prevented and diagnosed more effectively.
• Prevention through neighbourhood health services such as stop-smoking programmes, diet and obesity support, and alcohol advice.

For more information on what the NHS 10-Year Plan means for cancer services, download our summary report.