There is a NHS 癌 care 危機 in this country and it's 殺人，大当り people, but there IS a cure 令状s PROFESSOR KAROL SIKORA

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A few weeks ago, a family friend telephoned our home in 広大な／多数の／重要な 苦しめる to tell us she had been 診断するd with 行う／開催する／段階 four ovarian 癌.

This 発覚 had been shocking enough for an さもなければ fit and healthy lady but her 苦悩 was 高くする，増すd by the fact it had taken several weeks to make her first doctor’s 任命 and this had been followed by another 延期する before she 後継するd in 安全な・保証するing a 協議 with a specialist.

Now, 構内／化合物ing her anguish was the news that, after 存在 given the 判決 she had dreaded, she would have to wait six weeks before her first 開会／開廷／会期 of the chemotherapy that would, hopefully, 除去する the 病気.

Aside from the fact she was in 苦痛, this 延期する was agonising in itself, playing ? as it did ? to her 理解できる 恐れるs that the longer the wait before 治療, the more chance there would be of the 病気 前進するing and 逆に 影響する／感情ing her long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 結果s.

Some 375,000 people are 診断するd with 癌 in Britain every year, which equates to around 1,000 a day or someone every two minutes

Her 恐れるs are 井戸／弁護士席 grounded: 広範囲にわたる 研究 in 最近の years has shown there is a 重要な 衝撃 on a person’s mortality if 癌 治療 is 延期するd, whether it be surgical, systemic therapy (such as chemotherapy) or 放射線療法.

People whose 治療 is 延期するd by even one month have a 6 to 13 per cent higher 危険 of dying ? a number that keeps rising with every その後の day their 治療 does not take place.

Little wonder my wife’s friend was 脅すd.

Happily for her, in this instance I was able to 嘆願d with an oncologist to bring her 治療 今後 and she underwent her first chemotherapy 開会／開廷／会期 within a week.

Of course, that 特権 is not 利用できる to most of the 375,000 people who are 診断するd with 癌 in the UK every year ? around 1,000 every day ? meaning someone 概略で every two minutes.

It’s a 広大な number and I am afraid that many of them will 直面する the same 問題／発行するs as our friend in the form of hugely 容認できない 延期するs in diagnosis and 治療.

延期するs so 非常に長い that, in some 事例／患者s, oncologists are giving 患者s 任命s in the desperate knowledge that they won’t live long enough to fulfil them.

It’s why today, in the wake of my friend’s experience, I have no hesitation in 明言する／公表するing my 深く，強烈に held ? and I’m afraid rather 荒涼とした ? belief that 癌 care in this country is in a 明言する／公表する of monumental 危機.

I do not 令状 this lightly, and I 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる this may come as a shock to some of you who ? understandably ? 粘着する の上に the notion that, however 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な the 井戸／弁護士席-文書d 危機 in our health service may be, an exception will be made for the 準備／条項 of 癌 care.

This notion is underpinned by the glossy 圧力（をかける） 解放（する）s put out by NHS England on an almost 週刊誌 basis that trumpet new 開発s in this 円形競技場, all を強調するing the sense that 患者s are prioritised and 急速な／放蕩な-跡をつけるd.

The NHS also needs to call on the 私的な 部門, 令状s Professor Karol Sikora. It does so already when it comes to surgical 手続きs, so why not 癌?

In 2000 the 政府?introduced the two-week wait for 癌 治療 to を取り引きする a backlog. But last October?then health 長官 Steve Barclay, pictured, 発表するd he would be 廃止するing it as it was no longer tenable

Only two weeks ago it 発表するd the rollout of a new form of immunotherapy for 前進するd endometrial 癌, which could 申し込む／申し出 women in 前進するd 行う／開催する／段階s of the 病気 重要な extra time before it 進歩s compared with 基準 chemotherapy alone.

I also 特に 解任する an April 2021 告示 in which NHS England 明言する／公表するd it was ‘委任統治（領）ing’ faster diagnosis by March 2024, meaning that at least 75 per cent of 患者s would either receive a 癌 diagnosis or have it 支配するd out within four weeks of an 緊急の GP referral.

井戸／弁護士席 it’s March 2024 now and, as my wife’s friend can 証言する, the reality 落ちるs some way short of this 的. No wonder the UK has some of the worst 癌 生き残り 率s in the developed world, 最高位の as low as 28th out of 33 countries for five-year 生き残り 率s in ありふれた 癌s such as those of the stomach and the 肺.

Our 率s for pancreatic, 肝臓 and oesophageal 癌s are little better at, それぞれ, 26th, 21st and 16th place.

On 普通の／平均（する）, just 16 per cent of UK 患者s live for five years with these 癌 s ? にもかかわらず the fact we spend as much per 長，率いる on 癌 治療 as other developed nations.

Shocking isn’t it? Shocking enough, you might think, to 誘発する some heart-searching の中で NHS panjandrums about where, 正確に／まさに, they are going wrong.

Far from it. As I discovered during たびたび（訪れる） 試みる／企てるs to try to 改革（する） our 癌 care system from within ? failed 試みる／企てるs that would 最終的に lead me to 辞職する from the NHS in 2004 ? they 粘着する to an almost 交戦的な 拒絶 to 収容する／認める that only root and 支店 改革（する） will solve our problem with 癌 diagnosis and 治療.

Perhaps they are too busy worrying about 会合 多様制 的s and trumpeting their かかわり合い to using the proper pronouns.

Their 拒絶 to engage in discussion is all the more 失望させるing given that they have all the 技術s and 科学（工学）技術 they need at their 処分. We have wonderful 医療の staff, 効果的な 麻薬 regimens and ever-発展させるing 治療s.

As I wrote in The Mail on Sunday at the 週末, I have spent nearly 50 years in the oncology field and have 証言，証人／目撃するd first-手渡す the 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の changes which have seen one-size-fits-all chemotherapy 治療s 取って代わるd by tailor-made programmes to fit individual 診断するs, 補佐官d by the exciting leaps we have made in デオキシリボ核酸 審査 and 危険 予測.

But all of this 量s to a hill of beans if you have serious ? and serial ? 延期するs in both diagnosis and 治療. Because 延期する means 癌 is at a more 前進するd 段階 when 扱う／治療するd and in turn that means 結果s are poorer.

It’s not ロケット／急騰する science, but the people in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 nonetheless appea r unable to 認める this central truth, even when 直面するd with those grim five-year 生き残り 統計（学）.

As I pointed out in a five-point 計画（する） I 現在のd to the 保守的な 政府 last October at their 年次の 会議／協議会, the first thing that needs to happen is for the people in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 to 認める that change is needed.

After that, they need to use 存在するing staff more efficiently, 支払う／賃金ing them overtime to 確実にする that hospital car parks are as 十分な of 癌 care 患者s in the evenings and 週末s as they are from nine to five, Monday to Friday.

The same goes for GP 外科s, for they are at the frontline of diagnosis and too many people are waiting a month for an 任命.

The NHS also needs to call on the 私的な 部門: it does so already when it comes to surgical 手続きs, so why not 癌? I know of at least one 網状組織 of 私的な 癌 care clinics that is 現在／一般に running at just 30 per cent capacity.

If this sounds like an over-ambitious 変形, then consider this: within the last four years, this 政府 rolled out an enormous 全国的な Covid ワクチン接種 programme almost 夜通し. It also oversaw the 創造 of a ワクチン and a 広大な 網状組織 of efficiently organised pop-up centres, underpinned by brilliant 科学（工学）技術 and supported by volunteers.

If they can do it for Covid they can do it for 癌 ? it just 要求するs かかわり合い. さもなければ, I’m afraid, those already grim 統計（学） are only going to get worse.

Let us not forget that 支援する in 2000, the 政府 introduced the 概念 of the two-week wait for 癌 治療 in a 企て，努力，提案 to 速度(を上げる） 事例／患者s through the system and を取り引きする the backlog.

It was seen as a stopgap 支配する that would no longer be 要求するd by 2005. Eighteen years later, in October last year, the then health 長官 Steve Barclay 発表するd he would be 廃止するing it as it was no longer tenable.

That alone tells us everything we need to know about the 明言する／公表する of 癌 care in modern Britain ? and why nothing いっそう少なく than major 改革（する） is needed ーするために 確実にする that thousands of lives are not needlessly lost.

• Professor Karol Sikora is a former director of the 世界保健機構 癌 Programme and 医療の director of Rutherford 癌 Centres