The Spectator

Full text: Jeremy Hunt’s Tory party conference speech

Conference, I believe totally and utterly in our NHS.

I want it to offer the safest, highest quality care of any country in the world for you and your family.

When I took on this role four years ago I said it was the biggest privilege of my life.

Some say it’s the hardest job in government. Others say it’s the safest – because there’s not a long line of other ministers who want it.

But for me it’s the chance to serve our country by guiding our most precious public service through difficult times.

And that’s why I’m proud to be back in front of you wearing my NHS badge.

And why today I want to talk to you frankly about the state of our National Health Service: its successes, its challenges and our plans for the future.

And I want to explain why, despite the headlines, we can all be proud of our NHS and confident in its future.

Now, take cancer, our no 1 killer. There isn’t a family in this country, including my own, that hasn’t lost a loved one to cancer. But the truth is that for many years we have had the lowest cancer survival rates in Western Europe.

But we haven’t been doing nothing.

We know with cancer the key is to catch it early. So every day, compared to 2010, we are doing 16,000 more diagnostic tests. As a result we’re starting cancer treatment for 130 more people every day and now have our highest ever cancer survival rates.

Good progress, but still not good enough.

So our new cancer plan will introduce a maximum 4 week wait from GP referral to diagnosis; bring in Ofsted-style cancer ratings for CCGs; do more molecular diagnostics and immunotherapy and save an estimated 30,000 lives a year.

I’m publishing those Ofsted ratings today and although they don’t make comfortable reading everyone will now see our commitment to build a safer NHS doing more than ever to fight cancer for you and your family.

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