Professor Mark Lawler of Queen's University Belfast was speaking during today's Westminster Health Forum policy conference on cancer policy.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting revealed the Government's intention to publish a National Care Plan during evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee in December 2024.
Welcoming the move, Prof Lawler said: ‘We have had 14 years of mismanagement of cancer but thankfully the Government has listened to the data.'
Prof Lawler added the 12 months predicted to release the Plan was ‘not good enough'.
The chair of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership said the UK was ‘bottom of the table' in terms of cancer policy and 28th out of 33 countries in terms of lung and stomach cancer survival.
In addition, the 62-day target from treatment from diagnosis has not been achieved since 2015.
The scientist said over 30,000 deaths could be prevented through improved cancer care by 2030, providing a £24.4bn economic benefit.
He added: ‘We need to restore a National Cancer Plan as a matter of urgency. Let's be leaders and not laggers which is what we are at the moment.'
