NHS England has published new ‘Ofsted-style’ ratings for cancer care in Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across England. The ratings show that 9 out of 10 (90%) of the 209 CCGs in England had poor ratings for cancer care. The Daily Telegraph suggests that patients face a ‘survival lottery’, since only 14% of CCGs received a positive report.

Three quarters of England’s 209 CCGs (156 CCGs) require improvement, while 1 out of 10 CCGs (24 CCGs) were labelled ‘in greatest need of improvement’, i.e. they achieved below-average ratings on three or more metrics.

Responding to the new ratings, Macmillan Cancer Support’s Executive Director of Policy & Impact, Dr Fran Woodard, said: “The fact that so many CCGs in England have been identified as providing inadequate care to cancer patients, or requiring improvements in this area, is very concerning.  It highlights just how much the NHS is struggling to meet the challenge of delivering cancer services which meet all the critical needs of people with cancer”.

The ratings can be seen on MyNHS.