National Cancer Plan for England
Thank you
From publishing an open letter to political party leaders in The Sun to appearing on TV sofas to champion the cause, Dame Deborah's family have been campaigning for a long-term cancer plan since 2024, backed every step of the way by the thousands of you who added your names to the #TurningPointForCancer campaign.
Today, the National Cancer Plan for England, which we hope will help give more people more time with the people they love, has been published by the government and we'll now be taking the time to understand the full benefits it can bring to those affected by cancer. Progress like this would not be possible without your support. Thank you 💜
L-R Michelle Mitchell, CRUK CEO; Ben James, Deborah's Brother; Sebastien Bowen, Deborah's Husband; Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health; Heather James, Deborah's Mum; Alistair James, Deborah's Dad; Ian Walker, CRUK Exec Director of Policy, Information & Communications.
“Last year my family and I met the Health Secretary during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. We showed him some of the cutting-edge research being funded in Deborah’s name through the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK, to fulfil her wish of helping give more people affected by cancer more time with their loved ones.
“We also spoke about something that continues to concern us: too many people are still waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment for bowel cancer. Early cancer diagnosis matters, around 9 in 10 people survive bowel cancer for 5 years in England when it’s caught early, this falls to just 1 in 10 when diagnosed at the latest stage.
“The publication of the National Cancer Plan for England is an important moment. It’s encouraging to see commitments to meet cancer waiting times targets and diagnose people earlier, including through increasing the sensitivity of bowel cancer screening in England. But now we need to see these promises turn into real change for people affected by cancer and their loved ones.”
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Alistair James, Deborah's Dad
How We Got Here
April '24 Dame Deborah James's family published an open letter to all party leaders calling for a long term cancer plan. This was part of CRUK's Longer Better Lives manifesto campaign.
April '25 Deborah's Family and Michelle Mitchell hosted Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health at the Bowelbabe Laboratory in London to showcase work being done to give more people more time with the ones they love.
October '25, Alistair joined Cancer Research UK volunteer campaigns ambassadors, staff and the charity’s CEO Michelle Mitchell at West Ham’s Stadium in Stratford to highlight the 74,000 people in England who weren’t treated for cancer on time last year – more than enough to fill the stadium on a match day.
Feb '26 The National Cancer Plan for England is published.
Pajor Pawel/Shutterstock.com
June '25 Alistair and Michelle Mitchell launched the Turning Point For Cancer campaign which called for the Plan to include a number of measures to make it as robust and impactful for people affected by cancer. Nearly 1500 BBF supporters signed CRUK's open letter the the government.
October '25 ​Alistair and the group of ambassadors travelled to Department of Health and Social Care in Westminster to hand in the letter signed by an amazing 35,000 supporters.
