Julian unites with Cancer Research UK for World Cancer Day
February 10, 2023
This week, Julian attended a drop in event on Wednesday hosted by Cancer UK to mark World Cancer Day 2023.
World Cancer Day seeks to unite people all over the world to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage greater action to be taken in order to tackle this terrible disease.
Julian had the opportunity to discuss cancer waiting times on a national and local level with researchers and various campaign ambassadors, as well as cancer care over the next decade.
Over recent years we have seen cancer treatment and waiting times rise in prominence on the political agenda. This can be seen through the Government’s Major Conditions Strategy that seeks to make our cancer care system the best in Europe, along with investing £8 billion to help deliver nine million checks, scans, and operations by 2025, along with allowing the expansion of surgical hubs across the country. The commitment of £2.3 billion as part of the 2021 Spending Review has played a major role in facilitating the expansion of Community Diagnosis Centres that offer lifesaving checks closer to home and rapid access to clinical tests, with 1.7 million additional checks and tests already being delivered to date. However, more time, effort, and money must be invested in truly beating cancer once and for all.
Waiting times remain a significant challenge that needs to be addressed, as although 57% of patients between July and November 2022 in the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board began treatment within 62 days, 1,088 patients waited longer than 2 months to start treatment.
The pandemic clearly exacerbated the issue of waiting times and it is important that we reduce the backlog of cancer care that built up as a sad consequence of COVID-19.
Following the event Julian commented,
“It was great to meet with those at Cancer UK to discuss cancer care, the development of lifesaving treatments and how to tackle waiting times.
It is clear that cancer waiting times is a serious challenge that must be overcome to ensure that everyone can begin their treatment as close to their diagnosis as possible and have the best chance of beating the disease”.
