Cancer Reform Strategy - NHS Cancer Screening Programmes

122 CANCER REFORM STRATEGYimportant to review the reasons, includingfunding. The government will thereforecontinue to monitor how spending onEnglish cancer services compares to thespending of other countries, as well asvariations in spending on cancer withinEngland.Meeting future cost pressures10.13 Cancer costs are increasing in alldeveloped countries due to increased incidence,advances in all forms of treatment and theimpact of survivorship.10.18 Major capital investments related tothe commitments made in this strategyinclude digital mammography machines andincreased radiotherapy capacity to achievethe recommendations set out in theNational Radiotherapy Advisory Groupreport.10.19 Major additional revenue cost driversrelated to the strategy include:●Improving awareness and earlierpresentation;10.14 The estimated 1.5% yearly increase inincidence in England means that the baselinecosts of treating cancer would increase by atleast a similar percentage, adding £70 million tooverall costs each year.10.15 Drug costs have also recently beengrowing at over £100 million per year. Duringthe development of this strategy industry andclinicians told us that they estimate a futuregrowth in spending on drugs of approximately£60-80 million per annum. Reasons for thisupward trend include:●●●●●Expanding the breast screeningprogramme;Expanding the bowel screeningprogramme;Reducing cancer waits;Increasing radiotherapy capacity(eg workforce);New service models to replace inpatientcare;●●Greater use of adjuvant treatments,especially in common cancers;More treatment options in advanced disease;●●Enhancing care of survivors;Collecting better data on cancer tosupport world class commissioning; and●●New forms of drugs, which are given inaddition to chemotherapy; andIncreasing rate of introduction of new drugs.10.16 Subject to cost effectiveness beingdemonstrated, these cost pressures will bemet through increased allocations to theNHS, enabling commissioners to rise to thechallenge of ensuring world class cancerservices for the communities they serve.●Delivering new training initiatives.10.20 However, this strategy also sets outhow many of these costs can be offset overtime by improving the use of existingresources. Major savings will include:●●Reducing admissions and length of stayfor non-surgical cancer patients;Reducing elective stays for surgery;10.17 As well as the cost pressures listed above,this strategy includes a number of measures toimprove the quality of cancer services which willhave costs, with additional investment totallingsome £680 million.●●Improving efficiency of follow up aftertreatment; andImproving efficiency of cervicalscreening.