£2M Investment Pledged for Cancer Information Systems

UK Health Minister Yvette Cooper has announced a new £2.3m package to invest in information systems to improve cancer monitoring and involve patients in developing cancer services in England.

Some £2m will be invested in improving technology for collecting cancer data. The new money will be used to strengthen links with cancer networks and will improve the speed of data collection and the quality of data.

There are currently nine Cancer Registries responsible for collecting population-based incidence and survival data which is essential to the monitoring of a number of key areas of the NHS Cancer Plan.

The new investment is intended to improve the systems used to process the information collected and communicate it to the people responsible for planning and delivering cancer services.

Cooper said, "Improving cancer care depends on having accurate and extensive information. The data held by cancer registries is invaluable but it needs to be collected more swiftly and be more easily accessible."

Each of the 34 Cancer Networks will also be given a lump sum of £10,000 next year to spend on tapping into the knowledge and experience of people with cancer, and ensuring the results are fed back into service development.

The extra funding will allow local Cancer Networks to gain the views and opinions of people affected by cancer about cancer services, as well as providing a major investment in technology to improve the monitoring of national cancer services.