Julian attends Breast Cancer UK reception
February 28, 2024
Julian was pleased to join Breast Cancer UK for a parliamentary event to promote the importance of screening.
This event was an important opportunity for Julian to learn more about a new report published with the think tank Demos on ‘The Cost of Breast Cancer’, as well as discuss the urgent need to tackle breast cancer.
Julian has attended numerous Parliamentary receptions to increase awareness of various types of cancers, as well as to discuss the importance of investing in lifesaving research, increasing access to early diagnosis, and to the lived experiences of patients and healthcare professionals. These events are incredibly important as they help further inform Julian more on cancer related issues which supports him in his Parliamentary work.
It is clear that breast screening saves women’s lives, with screening tending to find the majority of breast cancers at stage 1, where survival is almost 100 per cent. Receiving an early diagnosis is crucial in ensuring that those with breast cancer get the support and treatment that they need and subsequently improves health outcomes and survival rates. It is disappointing to learn that minimum attendance has been consecutively missed in recent years and it must be made a priority to ensure that we work hard to bolster uptake in screening attendance. In this mission, we must make sure that we tackle health inequalities and ensure women’s health is front and centre. The key to ensuring this happens is by identifying underserved areas and encouraging women to attend their screenings.
Julian was shocked to learn that Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs), which are a crucial part of delivering early diagnosis of cancer and to deal with the backlog of cases created by the COVID-19 pandemic, do not include mammography as a core service. Since finding this out, Julian will be raising his concerns with ministers in the Department for Health and Social Care.
It is so important that we ensure that there is an increase in uptake of women going to screenings which will not only lead to improved health outcomes, but also save the NHS money and help the economy. The financial side is at the core of the recent report done by Demos which states that is huge potential to save the NHS money by ensuring an increase in early diagnosis through screening for breast cancer.
The report presents some significant findings, including through illustrating how breast cancer will cost the UK economy up to £2.6 – £2.8 billion in 2024, rising to £3.6 billion by 2034 if nothing changes. Furthermore, wellbeing costs associated with breast cancer is thought to amount to £17.5 billion in 2024.
However, the report states that through increasing access to screenings to 80 per cent, we would see net savings to the UK economy of £96m to £111m in 2034 and wellbeing cost savings at £1.2bn, also in 2034.
Following the event, Julian stated
“It was very pleased to have had the chance to attend Breast Cancer UK’s recent reception in Parliament.
It was a great opportunity to learn more about the recent report by Demos that explores the cost to the UK economy and NHS associated with breast cancer, and the urgent need to increase uptake in screenings nationally to stamp out health inequalities.
I look forward to now progressing forward and engaging with health ministers to explore ways in which we can increase uptake in screenings for breast cancer to improve health outcomes and increase survival rates.”
