LONDON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Britain planned to invest 1 billion pounds (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in new equipment to help speed up diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the prime minister's office announced on Tuesday.

    In an interview with the Cancer Research UK, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Health Secretary Andy Burnham has identified 1.6 billion U.S. dollars of savings over the next five years as the British government's major program of renovating and rebuilding the National Health Service (NHS) hospitals nears completion.

    He said this fund will buy the new diagnostic equipment needed to guarantee tests and results within a week. Once fully implemented, the NHS will have the capacity to deliver additional tests, including ultrasounds, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans and colonoscopies each year.

    Brown said the British Government has a radical plan to offer all patients the right to cancer tests and results within one week, which evidence suggests will help to save up to 10,000 lives a year.

    He said "we know that historically survival rates have been poorer here compared with some other countries partly because of late diagnosis. So by investing in tests and early intervention we will diagnose more cancers at a curable stage. We will also be able to give early reassurance to hundreds of thousands of patients who do not have cancer."