In a new report, the charity suggests services need urgent investment or cracks will begin to show. And the analysis calls for greater funding towards cancer diagnosis in order to meet the "looming demands" of an ageing population. But cancer service leaders say survival rates have never been higher.
More than 1.4 million patients in England were referred by their GPs with suspected cancer in 2013-14 – a 50% increase from 2009-10. But there is no longer the capacity to respond to this demand, according to the report, commissioned by Cancer Research UK and conducted by experts at the University of Birmingham and the company ICF CHK Consulting.
Researchers say there should be an urgent review into the leadership of services and how they are commissioned across the NHS. Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: "In many ways NHS cancer services have held up remarkably well. "Staff have bravely dug in and done their best in the face of overwhelming change, increased demand, squeezed budgets and fragmented leadership.