Patients with suspected cancers will receive diagnosis within a month, according to new plans set out by NHS England to provide “world-class” cancer care.

Under the new scheme, the National Cancer Transformation Board is to invest £15million to speed diagnosis and improve patient care.

Cally Palmer, national cancer director for England, said: "Cancer survival rates have never been higher and we have some excellent cancer services in this country with dedicated and professional staff, but we know there is more we can do.

"One in two people will be diagnosed with cancer and too many people are being diagnosed when their cancer is advanced. We need to change this. Through this cancer strategy we will drive a transformation in cancer care that will touch every corner of the country and improve services for thousands of people."

A new National Diagnostics Capacity Fund has also been established, to cope with rising demand.

Elsewhere, regional “Cancer Alliances” of experts to review data and propose improvements are planned, and other areas will trial multidisciplinary diagnostic centres.

The announcement comes amidst weeks of tense standoffs between Health Minister Jeremy Hunt and junior doctors over the implementation of a new contract altering wages and working hours, and budget cuts to many local councils affecting accesst to care.

Commenting on the plans, Dr Fran Woodard, executive director of policy and impact at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "We welcome the announcement of NHS England plans to drive forward the cancer strategy for England. We hope that added investment in early diagnosis and the setting up of Cancer Alliances will play an important part in tackling recurring problem such as missed waiting time targets.

"We are also pleased to see commitments in the plan to ensure more people benefit from personalised care after treatment. But it is not clear how these parts of the strategy will be funded over the next five years.

"NHS England and the Government must set out how they propose to fund this essential part of the cancer strategy if the improvements described in the plan are to be delivered. NHS England must also guarantee that necessary funding will be ring fenced in future budgets to ensure the plan published today can credibly be put into action."

Alongside setting the goal of treatment within a month, today also saw the release of the latest waiting times for cancer treatment in England.

Among these, the report highlights some patients who had waited up to 9 weeks for referral, twice the time set forward in today’s announcement.

Responding to the cancer waiting times statistics, Dr Woodard adds “We’re disappointed that once again waiting times have been breached with almost 6,000 people having waited for more than two months to start treatment despite being urgently referred. Waiting a long time for treatment after being diagnosed with cancer can be extremely distressing for patients, and experts believe it could also affect someone’s chance of survival.

“We have been aware for some time that our health service is struggling to keep up with the growing numbers of cancer patients. But we believe the Cancer Strategy for England is a step in the right direction in, promising new diagnostic tools, personalised care and encouraging regional health experts to share their knowledge. We now want to see more detailed information and commitment on how the plan will be fully funded and make sure it becomes a reality, so people with cancer get the vital support and care they need.”