A new drive to cut cancer rates in Scotland was announced by the Scottish executive on Tuesday.

Under the new plans, £40 million is to be invested in a dedicated fund to improve cancer care and reduce the causes of the disease which claims the lives of 63,000 Scots a year.

The Scottish Cancer Group is to be shaken-up in an effort to give both patients and doctors more say in how the additional money is to be spent.The executive also announced the appointment of Dr Anna Gregor, one of Scotland's top oncologists, who will act as the government's cancer chief in Scotland.

Launching the new drive, the Scottish health minister, Susan Deacon, said: "Cancer touches all of us at some stage of our lives. The strategy is the product of many years of work by the Scottish Cancer Group, and of many months of discussion with a wide range of other individuals and organisations with an interest in cancer."

However, she stressed that the process of combating cancer would be a long-term project. "There is no quick fix to years of under-investment. This is a long-term strategy for long-term results," said Deacon.

"Money alone will never be the solution to improving cancer services in Scotland. We need a partnership of common interests working together to ensure that the expertise, the talent, the commitment, the energy and the resources we have in Scotland are organised to get the best results for patients."

Gregor said that it was vital that the new money was now spent on tackling the obstacles to patient care. "Our first priority will be to look at staff shortages in our key specialties," she said.

"We have got to make the extra resources we have been given work better for patients. Inevitably, that means we will also have to change the way we work to get the best out of that investment. And we will need to work together as never before to achieve that."