The plan also sees a $60 million boost to drug buying agency Pharmac over the next two years, to be spent predominantly on cancer drugs.
Health Minister David Clark said the plan envisaged the new agency placing greater emphasis on prevention and screening.
"An immediate priority will be establishing quality performance indicators for specific cancer types.
"This will mean we can measure progress towards consistent care across DHBs.
"We are also combining the four current regional cancer control networks into a National Network to help remove regional variations in care.''
The plan said New Zealand's five-year survival rates after most cancer diagnoses were among the highest in the world.
"However, recent research suggests that our survival rates from cancer may be falling behind those of our comparable countries, and not improving.''
Research carried out in 2016 found 24.086 New Zealanders were diagnosed with cancer that year, an increase of 21% since 2007.
"New Zealand has an ageing and growing population, so we anticipate this trend will continue,'' the plan said.
"By 2040, the number of diagnoses is predicted to be around 52,531, or 144 people a day.''
"Modernising our approach to cancer care and improving survival rates is a long-term challenge.''
However, short-term initiatives such as the recent decision to fund linear accelerators in regional hospitals and today's Pharmac funding boost could make a near immediate difference, she said.
"From next year, Pharmac will also speed up its decision making by considering applications for funding at the same time as Medsafe assesses the safety of new medicines rather than waiting until that work is complete as it does currently,'' Ms Ardern said.
"Work on options for early access to new cancer medicines is also progressing well.''
Dr Clark announced at a cancer conference earlier this year that he would release a national cancer plan this year.
In subsequent months the National Party announced its own cancer plan, and the Government was also presented a petition by Southland man Blair Vining, who amassed tens of thousands of signatures in a high-profile campaign to improve cancer care services.
Although terminally ill and in poor health, Mr Vining and his family attended today's announcement at Auckland Hospital.
Ms Ardern said an excellent national standard level of cancer care was what the plan hoped to deliver.
"It should not matter where you live in New Zealand, you should have good access to screening, you should have good access to treatment, we should have world-class cancer care no matter where you live.
"Currently there has been significant underfunding for a number of years and that hasn't been the case; we need to turn that around.''
GOVT EMBARRASSED INTO ACTION - NATIONAL
“After nine years of opposition and two years of sitting on his hands in Government, Minister Clark has been dragged kicking and screaming into some sort of strategy because of the National Party," Mr Woodhouse said in a statement today.
“The Minister of Health today made his grand announcement of an ‘interim’ cancer plan - a watered down regurgitation of work we already had under way. Commitments including prevention, screening, treatment and palliative care are meaningful objectives, which can be found in the already established New Zealand Cancer Plan 2015-2018.
Mr Woodhouse said rather than go ahead with an already established strategy, "the Minister has played politics and ground cancer development to a halt".
"The consequence being that 13 of 20 District Health Boards have shown poorer performance against the Faster Cancer Treatment target under this Government. Despite this, the Government’s plan makes no reference to targets for faster cancer treatment.
“This is too little too late and shows a complete disregard for the many families resorting to massive loans and Givealittle pages to afford proper cancer treatment."
At its annual conference last month, National announced it would commit to establishing and funding a Cancer Agency that was fully independent, involved in prevention, screening and treatment of the disease. It would also set up a $200 million fund dedicated to cancer drugs so that New Zealanders can get the treatment they need, Mr Woodhouse said.
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Comments
This is where a lot of Kiwis are getting turned off the media. Not just the bias of Hoskings etc. But the media always have to get the oppositions "approval".
The media will tell you "they are just quoting". Yes BUT that plays into the oppositions hands who then use the media to cancel any doubt of their previous performance.
Facts -
(1) why didn't Woodhouse & co do something about cancer when they were in govt?
(2) Why was it they cut the hospitals down to where they have since struggled to perform - including no wage rises for nurses & doctors.
Why has this govt had to clean up the mess AND tolerate the media allowing this opposition dribble.
The opposition knew the govt was planning this (because of all the leaks) so made out it was their idea.
Does it matter who idea it is? Why bleat when you should done??
I refuse to be moved by the never elected MP Woodhouse. NZ had two of the most inept National Ministers of Health forced upon them in Ryall and Coleman resulting in the terrible state of the NZ Health system inherited by Labour. If Woodhouse had the courage of his mis-guided convictions he would man-up and stand for election next year instead of hiding in the National List.