PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
CANCER CARE: A PATIENT DIRECTORY (28 April 1999)

That this House recognises that Britain has some of the world's finest cancer care centres, run by dedicated medical professionals, but notes that it has one of the highest mortality rates in the world with 160,000 people dying from the disease each year and that it will increase over the next 20 years to affect 50 per cent. of the population; calls upon the Government to fund the compilation of a dedicated Internet directory that identifies cancer care centres across the country, their location, quality of performance, patient satisfaction ratings, clinical trial results, areas of greatest need, current information on individual strains of cancers, details of expected treatments for patients and medical professionals, improvement action plans and points of contact; asks that the Secretary of State for Health regularly reviews the directory, maintains and evaluates the information and insures that the NHS Direct service has easy access to the directory; notes that such a directory is supported by many cancer charities including Macmillan Cancer Relief, Cancer Research Campaign, Cancer Bacup, Marie Curie, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Sargent, Royal Marsden Hospital and the institute of Cancer Research; and welcomes the recent Government announcement of lottery money for cancer care services, but urges further resources to improve cancer care.

Sponsored by:
Mr Paul Marsden (Independent)