National Cancer Plan: From strategy to improvement

14 Oct 2026

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we take another look at the National Cancer Plan for England, which includes an overarching aim for three in four people diagnosed with cancer to be cancer-free or living well five years after diagnosis. 

Achieving this ambitious goal would mean 320,000 more lives saved over the Plan’s lifetime. But, with priorities spanning faster diagnosis and treatment, improved survival, better quality of life, and a reduction in inequalities in cancer care, is this aim still on track? And how are national clinical audits, and their resultant cancer data, supporting the sector to turn those priorities into measurable improvements for patients? 

There are encouraging signs that the necessary infrastructure for change is developing. The Plan included £200 million of ring-fenced cancer funding for 2026/27, distributed through Cancer Alliances, with an expectation that regions and alliances will provide intensive support to the Trusts that need it. Alongside this, it commits to providing services with rapid, reliable and actionable information, to review performance and identify unwarranted variation. For this, the national clinical audit programmes within the HQIP-commissioned National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN) are an invaluable resource. They publish regular findings on a live dashboard, in addition to more detailed annual reports with improvement recommendations, giving healthcare providers an evidence base on which to act. 

When HQIP responded to the Plan in March 2026, former Medical Director Professor Danny Keenan described national clinical audits as the “backbone of accountable improvement”. In an article published at the time (National Cancer Plan: Opportunity for change), he highlighted the need to make audit findings accessible to all frontline teams in order to translate evidence about variation into practical quality-improvement activity. Professor Keenan could see that the Plan provided a catalyst for working together to deliver a step change in improvement; however he argued that this would only happen if we pool our collective resources, skills and knowledge.  

The recommendations from NATCAN are an example of this in practice. Mapped to quality improvement goals, they are generated from findings from across the cancer audits, and are published alongside supporting materials such as Action Plan templates, Methodology Supplements and provider-level results. As such, they identify actionable priorities for clinical teams, Trusts and Cancer Alliances. Examples include improving timely treatment for higher-risk kidney cancer, addressing delays in lung cancer pathways, and strengthening access to genomic assessment for bowel cancer.  

So, the current immediate challenge is to connect national ambition and audit evidence with local delivery. Data must reach those who are able to act on it; findings must be converted into supported improvement plans; and progress must be measured by outcomes. The opportunity identified by HQIP back in March remains clear. If national clinical audit data, insights and improvement resources are brought together and acted upon, they can help to ensure that the National Cancer Plan is not simply a statement of intent, but delivers evidence-led improvement for all patients. 

Find out more: October 2026 is Breast Cancer Awareness Month – find out more about HQIP’s work to support improvements in breast cancer care

Further resources

• HQIP breast cancer hub – How national clinical audit is improving breast cancer care 
• Article: How clinical audit is helping the NHS improve the entire breast cancer pathway 
• Patient interview: My breast cancer story: From heartbreak to hope
• National Cancer Plan for England and HQIP’s response from early 2026
• Primary breast cancer State of the Nation report 2026 
• Metastatic breast cancer State of the Nation report 2026 
• More about cancer care from HQIP