Short abstract
Health tsars: spin or substance?: Eight health directors (“tsars”) were appointed from 1999 to 2002. Katherine Burke asked them to summarise their achievements and other people to assess their work. A ninth “tsar”, Dr Sue Roberts, was appointed in March 2003 to cover diabetes. The full text is accessible at www.bmj.com
My achievements: I led the development of the NHS Cancer Plan (published in September 2000), and since then I have been overseeing its implementation. Over the past three years, smoking cessation services have been established across the country, tobacco advertising has been banned, and awareness of the importance of eating fruit and vegetables has been raised through the “5 a day” programme. Screening programmes are being extended and waiting times are being reduced. Unprecedented numbers of new scanners and radiotherapy machines are being installed. Hospitals and primary care services are working much more closely together across cancer networks to ensure that care is better coordinated. Far more patients are being cared for by specialist teams. Extra financial resources have been put into cancer and palliative care services. Major new research initiatives are beginning to yield dividends.
What others say
Joanne Rule, chief executive of CancerBACUP: Whether a national cancer director contributes significantly to progress depends very much on the person. Mike Richards is exceptional. Under his leadership, cancer networks have started to make a real difference. We are not uncritical. We believe that continuing ringfenced investment in cancer networks would make the most difference, and we'll continue to push for this.
Supplementary Material
Figure 1.
Professor Mike Richards
National cancer director
Appointed: November 1999
Associated Data
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