Cancer can’t wait for the chaos at Westminster to subside

Every day, we’re hearing from people with cancer about the devastating impact this pressure on the system is having

People living with cancer are also struggling with the spiralling cost of living (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Hard-working NHS cancer professionals are continuing to do the very best they can after two incredibly challenging years, but health services are on their knees.

The latest official NHS data for England shows that the cancer care system is still under huge strain, with thousands waiting too long for test results and treatment that could save their lives. The latest figures show that in June, just three in five people started treatment within two months of an urgent GP referral, the lowest figure on record. Other reports suggest the number of people waiting for more than three months to start treatment following an urgent referral may have doubled in the past year.

Every day, we’re hearing from people with cancer about the devastating impact this pressure on the system is having. Waiting for results and receiving the life-changing news of a cancer diagnosis is terrifying enough, without having to deal with excruciating delays; delays which are affecting people’s physical and mental health and could risk a worse prognosis.

This comes at a time when many people living with cancer are also struggling with the spiralling cost of living, on top of the huge financial impact a diagnosis can bring, adding further to their worries.

34-year old Nicky Newman was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in 2018, which turned her whole life upside down. Nicky has recently experienced a number of delays with tests, scans and treatments this year, saying:

“Only yesterday I received another setback regarding my treatment. Knowing I have active, progressive cancer, I don’t understand the lack of urgency and why things aren’t moving quicker.

”I have been off treatment for nine weeks and now have to potentially wait longer to find out what my treatment going forward looks like due to delays in investigative tests. For most things I can find a light, but right now it all feels a little dark.”

”I have never felt so unsupported in my four years of living with cancer and I can say without doubt that my mental health has suffered as a result. My cancer is not curable which emotionally is difficult to deal with, but just because I’m dying it doesn’t mean I don’t want to continue and be given the chance to live a healthy happy life with as many treatment options as possible.”

Over two years on from the start of the pandemic, we’re still not seeing the progress we need to see in tackling the backlog of people who should have started treatment by now, or in providing people with the timely care they desperately require. Macmillan’s latest analysis shows that the NHS in England would have to work at 110 per cent capacity every month for a further 12 months to clear the number of “missing” cancer treatments. However, it has still not been possible to achieve this level of activity in any month in the past two years.

The scale of this challenge cannot be underestimated. Today, around 3m people are living with cancer in the UK, and by 2025 this figure will rise to 3.5m. And yet, despite these deeply concerning challenges facing cancer services, there has been no engagement with the urgent priorities facing the NHS during the current leadership challenge – and, to our extreme disappointment, no discussion on the cancer crisis. Making clear how they are going to meet the severe challenges facing cancer and the NHS must be a key priority for our future prime minister, before more suffer.

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People with cancer deserve so much better. We need to see clear action from the new prime minister to support the NHS so that it can provide people with the quality and timely cancer care they need, now and in the years to come; cancer cannot wait for the chaos at Westminster to subside.

One of the biggest challenges is the chronic staff shortages that exist at every stage of the cancer journey. Macmillan research highlights that the government needs to train an additional 3,300 specialist cancer nurses in England by 2030 to keep pace with rising demand. That’s just cancer nurses, and doesn’t even factor in the many other health and care professionals that people with cancer rely on.

Staff are working flat out to ensure people get into the system and receive support. But the backlog cannot be cleared with overtime and the goodwill of our hardworking NHS professionals alone. There simply aren’t enough of them.

The future prime minister and secretary of state for health and social care need to tell the public how they are going to prioritise the, now delayed, 10-year cancer plan for England with sufficient investment to give a lifeline to overstretched services. It’s vital this includes a clear plan for how the NHS will grow and retain the number of cancer specialists and other health and care staff.

Without this, people living with cancer will continue to pay the price.

Eve Byrne is director of advocacy at Macmillan Cancer Support