The picture painted of cancer care in 2025 is one where cancer is incidental to day-to-day living. Cancers will not necessarily be eradicated but that will not cause patients the anxiety that it would in 2003. People will have far greater control over their medical destinies than in 2003. Compared with 2003, there is little doubt that patients in all socio-economic groups will be better informed. In addition, surgery and chemotherapy will not be rationed on grounds of age since all interventions will be less damaging – psychologically as well as physically.

How true this picture will be will depend on whether the technological advances – outlined in previous sections – will emerge. Will people, for example, really live in “smart” houses where their televisions play a critical role in monitoring their health and well-being. It is also dependent on health-care professionals working alongside each other, valuing the input of carers who, even more than in 2003, will provide voluntry support because of the number of people in older age groups compared with those of working age.

The reality for cancer care may be rather different. The ideal will exist for a minority of patients, but the majority may not have access to the full range of services. Old people in 2025, having been relatively poor all their lives, may suffer from cancer and a huge range of co-morbidities that will limit their quality of life.