[ad_1]
LONDON (AP) — For Anna Gittins, three months would have meant the difference between life and death.
The headteacher of a primary school in Hereford, western England, was shocked when she discovered she had advanced colorectal cancer in 2022. But when she contacted her local hospital, she was told no one would be able to see her for three months “due to the large demand”. and low capacity of high-level doctors.
“I have just been diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, with metastases to the liver. I don’t have three months to wait,” she said, using another term for colorectal cancer. She was only 46 years old.
Gittins had access to private medical care and has since undergone surgery and chemotherapy. “I consider myself very lucky, but there are so many people who will die unnecessarily when faster treatment can help them,” she said. “And that’s not fair. Not in a country like ours.”
Gittins is among thousands of people with cancer disappointed by Great Britain National Health Servicea once revered institution now widely considered to be in acute crisis due to years of underfunding and staff shortages.
Waiting times to diagnose and treat cancer across the UK have worsened in recent years and are near record levels, with experts saying too many cancers are being diagnosed too late. Experts warn that the burden of cancer will increase as the country’s population ages.
The recent announcement by palace officials that King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer has highlighted the issue. Authorities did not say what type of cancer Charles has, only that he was discovered during a recent Corrective procedure for enlarged prostate..
The 76-year-old monarch’s decision to openly share his cancer diagnosis was widely praised and experts said it was a powerful reminder that cancer affects 1 in 2 people in the UK. The news triggered a “King Charles effect,” immediately boosting visits to cancer information and support websites across the country.
But many couldn’t help but compare the rapid treatment Charles received, days after his diagnosis, with the performance of ordinary Britons in public hospitals.
Public health officials aim for 75% of patients with suspected cancer to receive a diagnosis within four weeks of urgent referral from a doctor. They also say that 85% of cancer patients should wait less than two months to receive their first cancer treatment.
But the last time all those waiting time targets were met in England was in 2015, experts say, and delays are even worse in poorer parts of the country like Northern Ireland.
One in three patients in the UK wait more than two months to start treatment after an urgent referral for cancer assessment, according to independent think tank Nuffield Trust. In total, 225,000 people have waited too long since 2020, says Radiotherapy UK.
Survival from common cancers in the UK consistently lags behind that of countries with similar universal healthcare systems and per capita spending on public health, a recent report found the charity Cancer Research UK.
As well as longer waits, people with cancer in the UK also received fewer chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments than countries such as Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway. another charity study saying.
“It is quite worrying that in the UK we are treated less than in comparable countries. For lung cancer, for example, 28% of patients receive chemotherapy in the UK. In Norway it is 45%,” said Naser Turabi, head of evidence and implementation at Cancer Research UK.
Turabi pointed to a lack of investment in both equipment and specialist staff over the past 15 years, which has resulted in the UK ranking near the bottom among 36 developed countries for its number of CT and MRI scanners.
“We know we have an aging population, but there is no specific commitment from the government to meet the demand that we know will come,” he said. “We can’t even offer online bookings for screening appointments. The digital infrastructure is 20 years out of date.”
Kathy McAllister, a cancer survivor, is so frustrated with the inefficiencies of the NHS that she has retrained as a cancer awareness campaigner.
The former marketing director from Belfast, Northern Ireland, said she waited at least two months to start treatment after being diagnosed with late-stage colorectal cancer in 2019. She added that she only managed to get a follow-up scan after treatment because it persisted in pursue him with the hospital bosses.
“It’s just a wait at every stage,” McAllister, 53, said. “You hope that cancer is such a priority, that once you see a doctor, they will embrace you, care for you, and take care of you. But you are not. “You’re just another number because they’re so overwhelmed.”
Cancer care is not the only part of the NHS that is in crisis. Millions of people are struggling to make appointments with their GPs or dentists, hospital emergency departments are regularly overwhelmed and record numbers of people are stuck on waiting lists for routine treatments.
The COVID-19 pandemic made the situation worse, but the NHS – a huge institution employing more than 1 million people – has long struggled to cope with reduced public funding and rising life expectancy. . Many blame the crisis on austerity policies of successive conservative governments, which have cut health, social welfare and education budgets during 14 years in power.
When asked about delays in cancer care, NHS England said more people than ever are diagnosed with cancer at an early stage and more treatment options are available. Over the past year, nearly 3 million people received potentially life-saving cancer checks, compared with 1.6 million a decade ago, he said in a statement.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has made reducing waiting times a key priority, laid the blame on an unprecedented series of the doctors and nurses strikes for lack of progress.
Tens of thousands of doctors have walked off the job multiple times since late 2022 to protest deteriorating conditions and demand better salaries, which unions say are not keeping pace with rising inflation. Last month, junior doctors went on strike for six days, the longest such stoppage in the history of the NHS.
McAllister, the cancer survivor, wants to make cancer care a focal point ahead of the British general election, which is expected to take place this year. She is calling on the government to come up with a cancer plan and devote as much attention and urgency to it as they did to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s just shocking that every time cancer waiting times come to light, they are almost ignored. We’ve become a little desensitized to those statistics,” he said. “We need people to stand up and say, ‘It’s not good enough.'”