Teenage Cancer Trust reacts to Lord Darzi's report about NHS
Teenage Cancer Trust has responded to a report that has been published to see how the NHS is currently performing across England and the challenges that are facing the healthcare system.
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The nine-week review was carried out by Lord Darzi who was asked to create a report by the UK Government to identify the pressures the NHS is under.
The report highlighted a number of areas include: NHS was still struggling with the the impact of the pandemic and falling short of its key targets for cancer care - and that this was contributing to poor survival rates in cancer, that the UK has a higher cancer mortality rate than any other country, and that there has been “no progress whatsoever was made in diagnosing cancer at stage I and II between 2013 and 2021”.
Responding to the publication of the report, Kate Collins, Chief Executive of Teenage Cancer Trust, said: “At Teenage Cancer Trust we know that the long-term underinvestment in the NHS is translating to challenges for young people with cancer to receive the best care and support that they need - and challenges for the skilled teams working hard within the NHS to deliver it.
“Using insight and expertise from patient focussed charities like Teenage Cancer Trust should be crucial to the new 10-year plan that the government is developing for the health service but we encourage the government to remember that charities cannot be the default answer to tackling the challenges in this report.”
Every day, seven young people aged 13-24 are diagnosed with cancer and by 2030 this number is expected to rise to ten. The government has the chance to drive change for a generation of young people with cancer.
What are we calling for the new UK Government to do?
To help improve the care, treatment and outcomes for young people with cancer, we are calling for the UK government, in England, to:
- Publish a new, long-term cancer strategy in England to improve outcomes for young people with cancer,
- Ensure that every teenager and young adult with cancer has access to expert psychological support from the point they are diagnosed and for a minimum of two years after their treatment,
- Ensure that teenagers and young adults with cancer have access to clinical trials - otherwise they risk missing out on new treatments that could increase their chances of survival,
- Take action to ensure that teenagers and young adults with cancer are diagnosed faster – many have to visit their GP multiple times before they are diagnosed,
- Ensure that teenagers and young adults with cancer are offered appropriate treatment to preserve their fertility. The government must commit to further research to understand why some young people face challenges preserving their fertility,
- Ensure that good quality, timely data for teenagers and young adults with cancer is readily available, providing insights into the unique issues that young people face,
- Future planning for the NHS workforce is essential to provide necessary detail about how capacity within cancer care can be increased. Additionally, it is vital that the government guarantees there is a specialist workforce available to treat teenagers and young adults with cancer.
You can read more about our calls here: Teenage Cancer Trust Briefing 2_0.pdf
Facing cancer is incredibly hard at any age. But there are lots of reasons cancer can hit young people even harder.
- Getting a cancer diagnosis in the first place is harder. Although cancer in teenagers and young adults is more common than you might think, it’s still relatively rare, and symptoms can often be mistaken for growing pains or infections. In a 2022 survey, nearly half (47%) of teenagers and young adults diagnosed with cancer had to see their GP three or more times before referral – the most out of any age group.
- Cancer treatments can be less effective for young people. The physical changes and rapid growth we go through during puberty and young adulthood can negatively affect how the body metabolises chemotherapy drugs, for example, or can lead to more severe side-effects with a higher risk of short and long-term complications.
- Accessing clinical trials can be harder. Clinical trials help researchers find new and better treatments. But many trials are designed for children or older adults, meaning teenagers and young adults might not be eligible to join or won’t get treatment tailored to their age group. And because there are lots of different types of cancer that can affect young people, patient numbers for each cancer type are small, which makes it harder to recruit and run trials.