A SOUTH Essex MP says has called on experts to tackle cancer survival rates at a major conference on Tuesday.

John Baron, Tory MP for Basildon and Billericay is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer, which will hosting its annual conference “Britain Against Cancer” in London for the 18th time.

It aims to showcase “new and innovative cancer tools”, as well seeking to improve diagnosis times, secondary cancers and pressures facing NHS staff.

More than 400 healthcare professionals, charities, commercial organisations and politicians will be attending.

These include, Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, David Mowat, Community Health and Care Minister and Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Health.

Mr Baron, who has headed up APPGC since 2009, said: “The Officers of the APPGC and I look forward to hosting our annual ‘Britain Against Cancer’ conference.

“In an increasingly fragmented NHS, the conference brings together hundreds of delegates from across the country, to debate and discuss cancer issues, to network and to hear directly from experts and our keynote speakers.

“In particular, I will be making the point at this year’s Conference that there continues to be no shortage of NHS ‘process targets’.

“Assessing the NHS’ performance of ‘two week waits’ and other such processes has its uses, but has not narrowed the gap with international averages when it comes to survival rates.

“The APPGC has focused hard on this area in recent years, but there is much more work to be done.”