Lansley’s cancer policy in confusion
The Conservative's approach to cancer guarantees appeared to be in confusion today. Andrew Lansley said that patients would see a specialist within two weeks.
The Conservative’s approach to cancer guarantees appeared to be in confusion today after Andrew Lansley said that patients would see a specialist within two weeks despite his party pledging to scrap the NHS guarantee that would do precisely that.
Answering a question on the BBC’s Daily Politics Election Debate from Branwen Jeffreys, Andrew Lansley put his party’s policy in confusion:
JEFFREYS: “If you have a suspected cancer, will you be see someone within two weeks?”
LANSLEY: “Yes you will”
NEIL: “But you told me in another interview, Andrew Lansley, that that wasn’t a commitment any more.”
The Tory manifesto says, “We will give patients more choice and free health professionals from the tangle of politically-motivated targets that get in the way of providing the best care.” More recently, William Hague said on the Campaign Show:
“We are not going to have a whole lot great system of guarantees and targets, we are going to have a system that performs … rather than dictating what everybody will do
The Labour government is committed to guarantees to see a cancer specialist within two weeks while the manifesto promises, “Legally binding guarantees for patients including the right to cancer test results within one week of referral, and a maximum 18 weeks’ wait for treatment or the offer of going private.”
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