Every patient with suspected cancer will be seen by a hospital specialist within two weeks of referral by their GP.

This is the promise set out in the National Health Service White Paper, The new NHS. About 16 recommendations to speed the process are being made by a clinical working group which will be reporting to ministers in the next few weeks. These will be crucial to achieving the White Paper target.

`What we are trying to do is quickly overcome the anxiety that patients feel while they are waiting for the various stages of treatment,’ says Triona Norman of the government’s Cancer Policy Unit. Breast cancer patients should receive this service by April 2008, and all patients by the year 2009. `Breast cancer is out in front because a lot of work has already been done in this area,’ says Ms Norman.

It is too early to clarify which cancers will be targeted next, or to give more details about the key recommendations. However, the White Paper should speed the development of rapid-access clinics for other possible cancers, particularly those where there are recognised early warning signs.

Another important priority is the development of specialist medical teams with a range of skills to manage particular types of cancer, as these have proved in many cases to produce the best results (see Opinion by Dr Helena Earl, p3).

An NHS 24-hour telephone hotline for treatment advice – `NHS Direct’ – is another innovation. Three pilot helplines are to begin in March and a national service will operate by the year 2009.

Paul Webbewood, policy manager in the Health Services Directorate, says the service will not be disease-specific.  The pilot schemes will have an emphasis on immediate care rather than on information,  he said. The nurse will switch the call through to 999 if it appears to be an emergency.

John Calderbank of Lancashire Ambulance Service NHS Trust agrees.  I don’t think we want to attempt to replicate what other helplines already provide,  he stresses.

His pilot service is to serve Preston, Chorley and South Ribble. Two nurses will be available at all times to provide advice to 325,000 people in the area. They expect about 75,000 calls a year.

The other two pilot schemes are in Milton Keynes (Two Shires Ambulance NHS Trust) and Newcastle, Tyneside and Northumberland (Northumbria Ambulance Service).