Member News
By Baroness Finlay of Llandaff - 11th November 2010
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff writes for ePolitix.com ahead of her debate on improving the quality and quantity of life for people with cancer.
At some stage during our lives, one in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer, and one in four will die from this disease. Cancer survival rates have doubled in the last 40 years, but the incidence is rising. We are now confronted with a momentous upheaval in the way the NHS operates. It behoves us to ensure that the people living with cancer are not left behind or forgotten.
Although in a recent Economist report, Britain ranked top in the world for end-of-life care, in terms of cancer survival we lag behind other European countries, and a key reason is late diagnosis. 'Eurocare' is a cancer epidemiology research project on survival of European cancer patients. Comparing populations is complex, so we must treat figures with caution, but Eurocare data suggests that cancer is often diagnosed at a later stage in the UK compared with the rest of Europe.
Late diagnosis is thought to be a major factor for our poorer survival rates. It is particularly concerning, therefore, that the target of diagnostic tests has been abandoned by the current government, with no indication of who will be held to account if late diagnosis continues.
Currently GPs act as gatekeepers for diagnostic testing but need ongoing education and support from cancer specialists. With the current pressure to limit referrals there is a danger that GPs could feel forced to become over-zealous in their gate-keeping roles, so the quality and quantity of life for cancer patients could worsen though longer delays.
Cancer treatments are moving ahead apace. Surgical techniques, such as keyhole surgery for early bowel cancers, are supplemented by chemotherapy that can be targeted in some cancers for patients with a specific gene, suggesting their chance of response is good. Herceptin in breast cancer is the obvious example. Precision-targeted radiotherapy improves survival by 20 per cent, with fewer adverse effects from treatment. But these all cost money and need investment.
Screening, early diagnosis and targeted treatments can safeguard the quality and quantity of life for cancer patients. But they illustrate the challenge of protecting and prioritising public health in our current political and economic climate.
I hope that my debate today will highlight that sowing the seeds of economic recovery and growth will prove fruitless if the health of our nation is jeopardised in the process. Our government repeatedly reminds us that 'we are all in this together'; unfortunately cancer will touch all our lives, whether directly or indirectly, and that is a hard reality we must confront.
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