Ahead of World Cancer Day on the 4th February RTUK and the Catch up with Cancer campaign hosted a parliamentary drop in event on Tuesday 31 January.
Closing the cancer treatment care gap: Tackling the cancer wait crisis this World Cancer Day
This drop-in event provided Parliamentarians with the most up-to-date cancer waiting time figures for their local area. It also provided attendees with the opportunity to speak directly with a number of cancer professionals and radiotherapy workforce representatives to find out how radiotherapy can help in closing the cancer care gap.
Parliamentarians were invited to sign up to a declaration calling on the Government and NHS to address the crisis as a matter of urgency and to speak with patients including our patron Bryan Robson.
Current figures show that no region is meeting the Government’s own target of 85% of cancer patients receiving treatment within 62 days. There are also huge regional variations across the UK, with over 60% of patients in some areas such as Birmingham, waiting beyond the 62-day target. This is nothing short of a cancer emergency.
The event was a huge success with around 80 parliamentarians attending over the 3 hours, and over 50 signatures on the Declaration to the Prime Minister asking him to prioritise tackling the cancer backlog and record-breaking waiting lists for cancer treatment by publishing an urgent new and radical cancer plan, which looks to increase radiotherapy treatment capacity.
We were joined by several radiotherapy industry and workforce representatives, patients, and a couple of journalists from the Lancet Oncology and from the Express.
It was a fantastic event, with many high-profile cross-party MPs and Peers attending including Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, Esther McVey MP and Andrew Gwynne MP, Shadow Health Minister, and expressing support for the campaign and event.
We have been following up with all parliamentarians who attended, and many have tabled written parliamentary questions on behalf of the campaign, and posted personalised press releases with localised waiting time data.
This was a really well-attended event, with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and has led to a number of positive actions for the campaign.
Charity Chair, Prof Pat Price comments:
“It has been nearly a year since former Secretary of State for Health, Sajid Javid, declared a War on Cancer. Yet, one year on, the cancer crisis has now plummeted to the worst cancer emergency I have ever experienced. Each month brings record-breaking high treatment waiting times, treatment equipment is severely out of date and the workforce are exhausted. Shockingly, the long-awaited cancer plan is still nowhere to be seen. Ahead of World Cancer Day, cancer clinicians and campaigners are coming together to call on the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health directly to invest in these cost-effective solutions to assist in clearing the backlog. Cancer will not wait. We need an immediate plan before the whole cancer service crumbles and more needless lives are lost.”
Following the event, Professor Pat Price, Sarah Quinlan MBE, Nicky Whilde (IPEM), and Daniel Baines went to Number 10 to hand in the Declaration with over 50 signatures.
