Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Health – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 30 March 2010.
May I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman for the important leadership role that he has played on those matters in this Parliament as a distinguished chair of the all-party group on cancer? I want the NHS to focus on the early diagnosis of cancer-I agree with him about that-and one-year survival figures will help to get the focus that we need, published for as many cancers as possible and by PCT. Where I must take issue with him is on his comment about input-based targets, or process targets, as Conservative Members often call them.
When it comes to cancer, process equals time, and time matters. That is why Labour will enshrine in the NHS constitution the two-week guarantee so that people can see a cancer specialist, and why we are making a flagship pledge to deliver cancer test results within one week in the next Parliament. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will persuade his Front Benchers to back those commitments.