Rural and coastal areas of England to get more cancer doctors
Hospitals in rural and coastal parts of England will get more cancer doctors to help tackle stark inequalities that mean people in some areas are far more likely to die from the disease.The plan is part of a government drive to end the “patchy” nature of NHS cancer care, which is characterised by wide postcode lotteries in access to diagnostic tests and treatment.“For too long your chances of seeing a doctor and catching cancer early have depended on where you live,” said Wes Streeting, the health secretary.“That’s not fair and has to stop.Whether you live in a coastal town or a rural village, you deserve the same shot at survival and quality of life as everyone else.
”Streeting hopes more staff will allow patients to access cancer care more quickly, improve early diagnosis and increase survival rates, which are low compared with similar countries.Hospitals in poorer areas, many of which are located rurally or on the coast, often have fewer doctors – especially senior specialists – than those in cities and big teaching hospitals, which leaves patients waiting longer to be seen.Many have fewer cancer consultants than hospitals elsewhere.Attracting enough doctors to work in such places is often a challenge, which has led to a disproportionate number of medical roles being filled by medics from overseas.GP surgeries in poorer areas are also affected by “under-doctoring”, further reducing access to care in places with the highest level of health need.
The initiative will result in more doctors in the early stages of their careers being offered specialist training posts in such hospitals, rather than increased numbers of consultants working there.However, it is unclear how many extra training places in cancer medicine it will produce.That is still subject to discussion between the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England.The scheme is one of a host of measures to improve cancer care in England that will be announced in the government’s new national cancer plan on 4 February, World Cancer Day.Streeting – himself a cancer survivor – hopes that more cancer doctors working in rural and coastal hospitals will also help to reduce economic inactivity, which is higher in those places.
Gemma Peters, the chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Right now, cancer care isn’t fair.Too many people’s experiences are being shaped by who they are and where they live.“We know that many people in rural and coastal communities can face worse cancer outcomes, and expanding the cancer workforce in these places is a vital step towards tackling these inequalities.”Michelle Mitchell, the chief executive of Cancer Research UK, added: “No one should be at a greater risk of dying of cancer because of where they live, but cancer death rates are around a third higher for people living in the most deprived areas of England compared to the least deprived.“Ensuring everybody across England can access the best diagnostic tests is also crucial.
It’s promising to see that the sponge on a string test, funded by Cancer Research UK to spot conditions that could lead to oesophageal cancer, is one of the new innovations the government is looking to roll out more quickly.Beating cancer must mean beating it for everybody, and the national cancer plan for England has a huge opportunity to bring us closer to this goal.”The plan will also set new targets for how quickly cancer patients receive care and treatment, and put more money into new technologies, including AI, to detect signs of the disease earlier.Dr Stephen Harden, the president of the Royal College of Radiologists, said: “Boosting the cancer workforce and embracing the latest technology to help spot cancer earlier are important steps to speed up diagnosis and treatment.”But hospitals needed more senior doctors, not just those still in training, he added.
“To ensure patients in underserved areas benefit in the long term, it will be essential that permanent consultant posts are available so cancer doctors can stay and build fulfilling careers locally once training is complete.”
Nigel Farage’s trip to Davos hosted and paid for by family trust of billionaire
Nigel Farage’s trip to Davos this week was hosted and paid for by the $10bn family trust of an Iranian-born billionaire, the Guardian has learned.The leader of Reform UK has been touring Davos this week, giving speeches in which he pledged to tax banks and “fight the globalists”.But in a surprising entry, he is listed on the programme for the World Economic Forum as a member of parliament and a representative of HP Trust, which describes itself as the “family office of Sasan Ghandehari” with a portfolio value in excess of $10bn (£7.4bn).A representative for the trust said Farage had been invited to Davos by Ghandehari, a venture capitalist, as an honorary and unpaid adviser to his impact investment portfolio focused on philanthropic activities, particularly in the Middle East
UK politics: Trump’s Nato claims ‘insulting and frankly appalling’, says Starmer –as it happened
Keir Starmer has condemned Donald Trump’s claim that Nato allies did no properly fight alongside the US in Afghanistion. In a pooled clip that has just been broadcast, he sounded genuinely angry.Starmer said:Let me start by paying tribute to 457 of our armed services who lost their lives in Afghanistan.I will never forget their courage, their bravery and the sacrifice that they made for their country.There are many also who were injured, some with life-changing injuries
French authorities ban British far-right activists from gathering at weekend
French authorities have announced a sweeping ban on British far-right activists planning to take part in a “stop the boats” protest against asylum seekers hoping to cross the Channel to the UK.Friday’s announcement by the prefecture in northern France goes further than a previous ban by the French interior ministry on 10 unnamed far-right activists associated with the organisation Raise the Colours for “having carried out actions on French soil”.The ban, from the Nord and Pas-de-Calais prefecture, aims to prevent British far-right activists involved in “Operation Overlord” from travelling to France this weekend. The ban comes into force at 11pm on Friday evening and continues until 8am on Monday morning.Operation Overlord was launched by Raise the Colours, an anti-migrant group placing England flags and union jacks on lamp-posts
Starmer stands up to Trump at last and has chance to make case for Europe
“Serious, calm, pragmatic, behind-the-scenes diplomacy” is how No 10 has been describing Keir Starmer’s approach to the chaotic world of Donald Trump’s administration.That may have been how the week started – and tiptoeing around Trump’s volatility has been the hallmark of Starmer’s relationship with the president for a whole year. But the president’s two major digs at Britain, first over the Chagos Islands and then, more seriously, his claim that UK troops did not pull their weight in Afghanistan, have finally provoked Starmer into a furious rebuttal.Starmer’s demand for an apology over the “insulting and frankly appalling” words from an unrepentant Trump marks the worst week for US-UK relations since the president took over last year.The prime minister’s two televised press statements this week are a sign of his exasperation with Trump’s remarks about the UK – and he appeared ready at last to draw a line in the sand about what is unacceptable to say about an ally
Can Andy Burnham calm the anger in a Manchester seat Labour fears losing?
When leaked WhatsApp messages sent by former minister Andrew Gwynne were published last year, Stuart Beard was astonished at the scenes outside his office in Denton town square.“There must have been about 60 pensioners with placards,” he said, referring to local anger over Gwynne’s derogatory texts, which included one saying he hoped an elderly woman who didn’t vote Labour “croaked it” before the next election.“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Beard. “It was like a riot – it was quite funny in a way.”The circus will return to this diverse Manchester constituency after Gwynne’s resignation triggered a potentially seismic byelection that could pave the way for Andy Burnham’s much-hyped return to Westminster
‘We have a clear agenda’: the teenager who broke news of Tory MP’s defection to Reform
Andrew Rosindell had been tipped as a potential Reform recruit long before his defection from the Conservatives last weekend took Westminster by surprise.Yet as he and Nigel Farage basked in the spotlight outside parliament on Monday, more than 200 miles away in the town of Whitby, North Yorkshire, a 15-year-old schoolboy was also savouring the moment.Incredibly – at least to those unfamiliar with the rise of his burgeoning media enterprise – Charlie Simpson appeared to have scooped all other media by predicting on the evening before that the Essex MP would join Reform.“EXCLUSIVE: MP Andrew Rosindell has reached an agreement to defect to Reform UK,” Charlie tweeted on Saturday, prompting derision from other users of X and pressure from Rosindell’s office to take down the tweet.But the following day, Rosindell, who was a shadow Foreign Office minister under Kemi Badenoch, announced on X he had quit the Conservative party “with sorrow” after 25 years and had decided to join Reform “following a conversation with Nigel Farage earlier in the evening”
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