On 25 November the Chancellor laid out his spending plans for the next five-years.
• The NHS will receive £10 billion more in real terms than in 2014-15, with £6 billion available in 2016/17
• NHS spending in England to increase from £101 billion in 2015-16 to £120 billion by 2020-21. This is £2 billion more than the NHS asked for in its Five Year Forward View
• The Government expects the NHS to deliver £22 billion of the efficiency savings it said it can find in the Five Year Forward View
For cancer services the most significant elements of the Spending Review are that the recommendations of the Independent Cancer Task force will be implemented so that by 2020 patients referred for testing by a GP should be diagnosed for cancer, or given the all clear, within four weeks. This will be delivered by investing up to £300 million a year by 2020 to fund new diagnostic equipment as well as 200 additional staff.
The guiding document is the Cancer Strategy for England but it is likely that much of it will be adopted by the Devolved Nations as well.