The Department of Health and Social Care has announced the 78 Trusts that will benefit from funding for new cancer testing and detection technology following the Prime Minister’s promise, last month, of £200m funding for new cancer screening equipment. The new machines will improve screening and early diagnosis of cancer.
The funding, over the next two years, will replace, refurbish and upgrade CT and MRI scanners – introducing machines with lower radiation levels – and breast screening imaging and assessment equipment. The new equipment will also be easier to use, quicker to scan and construct images and reduce the need to re-scan. Many machines will be enabled for artificial intelligence (AI), bringing new capability and preparing the NHS for the future.
The lack of scanners for cancer diagnosis has been referred to in concerns over the capacity of the NHS to deal with future healthcare needs. The extent to which the UK is falling behind other countries was starkly highlighted in the report: ‘Failing to Capitalise’, published by The Health Foundation in March. This found that the UK has the lowest number of both CT and MRI scanners per capita of any of the EU15 and G7 countries for which data were available according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The UK was reported to have around 7.5 MRI scanners and just under 10 CT scanners per million population, compared to the USA with around 36 MRI scanners and over 40 CT scanners and even Greece, which has about 27 MRI scanners and 36 CT scanners per million population. The UK falls well below the Netherlands, Canada, France, Luxembourg, Ireland, Spain, Finland, Austria, Italy and Germany. The Health Foundation estimates that just to bring the UK up to the average number of CT and MRI scanners would require approximately £1.5bn extra capital spending.
The NHS Long Term Plan states that funding for new cancer screening equipment - specifically CT and MRI scanners - would be negotiated in the 2019 Spending Review.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock says: “This new state-of-the-art equipment for 78 Trusts across England will ensure doctors and clinicians can help even more people survive a cancer diagnosis and stop the disease as early as possible.
“It’s mission critical that the technology our NHS uses to prevent and diagnose cancer is brought into the 21st century. We have backed the roll-out of these new machines with £200 million in funding, as part of our Long Term Plan, backed by an extra £33.9 billion a year.”
Cally Palmer, National Cancer Director at NHS England, adds: “Cancer survival is at a record high thanks to better prevention, earlier diagnosis and world-leading treatments in the NHS.
“This major investment in the best modern scanning technology will benefit patients in every part of England, helping us to achieve the NHS Long Term Plan’s ambitions of catching tens of thousands more cancers earlier when they are easier to treat, saving 55,000 more lives every year.”
Funding to each Trust has been allocated based on an assessment of local infrastructure and local population need. The Trusts receiving funding are:
East of England
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Bedford Hospital NHS Trust
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
London
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
Whittington Health NHS Trust
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
Barts Health NHS Trust
Midlands
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust
North East and Yorkshire
Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
North West
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust
Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust
Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
South East
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
Isle of Wight NHS Trust
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Medway NHS Foundation Trust
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
South West
Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
North Bristol NHS Trust
Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
