Steady progress on cancer strategy goals

Release of Mapping Progress: the first two years of the Cancer Control Strategy Action Plan 2005-2010.

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Health Minister Pete Hodgson today welcomed the first evaluation and monitoring report of the Cancer Control Council, saying good progress was being made towards reducing the burden of cancer but there was more work to be done.

The report, Mapping Progress: The First Two Years of the Cancer Control Strategy Action Plan 2005-2010, shows 70 percent of milestones in the first phase of the action plan have been achieved or are in progress.

Cancer control includes prevention, screening and early detection, treatment, support and rehabilitation, palliative care, and surveillance and research.

"This first-ever report of its type provides a useful beginning that sets out the direction and challenges for the future."

"While a majority of the milestones in the first phase of the Cancer Control Strategy Action Plan have been achieved or are in progress, there is plenty more work to do.

"We've still got a way to go in developing a national cancer workforce strategy. We need this so that we can improve the delivery of services across the whole continuum of cancer control.

Pete Hodgson says several district health boards are moving to improve the capacity and capability of the cancer nursing workforce. Work is also underway to develop a national education and training framework for cancer and palliative care nursing.

"There are many good initiatives happening at a local level, and within particular district health boards. The challenge now is to make sure these are taken up consistently across New Zealand."

"I want to thank all those involved in cancer control and the council for the hard work that has gone into these first two years and I look forward to further progress on the challenges that lie ahead," Pete Hodgson says.