National Cancer Plan: Legal comment

The UK Government has unveiled a National Cancer Plan in which every patient will receive a tailored plan covering treatment, mental health and employment support.

Rolling out this year, each Personalised Cancer Plan will look beyond just treatment and diagnosis to cover the full impact of the disease on a patient’s life to help them return to work after treatment has ended.

The Department for Health and Social Care said the NHS App will become a digital portal for cancer care, allowing patients to book screening appointments, access prehabilitation programmes, view their patient record, check their individual plan and provide feedback on their care.

In addition, it has announced measures including a new AI pilot to help detect hard-to-reach lung cancers.

Gerard Hanratty, Head of Health and Life Sciences at Browne Jacobson, said: “Personalised cancer support plans represent an important step towards patient-centred care, but to truly realise their potential, the government must prioritise giving patients greater rights over their own data.

“Creating 'digital health wallets' – secure, user-controlled platforms for storing, managing and sharing health information - could revolutionise patient self-management and ensure cancer patients have seamless access to their support plans via the NHS app.

“The NHS must be clear with the public on the benefits of sharing personal data and for regulators to allow the use of anonymised data for research to address difficult health issues that people face.

“By harnessing big data and AI, we can work towards the game-changing development of personalised cancer prevention, screening and diagnostics strategies based on individual patient characteristics such as genetics, lifestyle factors and medical history.

“Effective cross-border data sharing and a regulatory ecosystem geared towards maximising the potential for joint projects will be crucial to advancing cancer care.

“With many regulatory challenges to overcome, we need a comprehensive and flexible framework for co-operation and alignment in data sharing and governance to support the research and development that will improve outcomes for cancer patients both here and internationally.”