Analysis: Alarm bells ringing over ways to ease cancer battle

WE KNOW the numbers of people getting cancer is increasing and these latest figures by the World Cancer Research Fund should signal alarm bells for the NHS and how we plan future cancer services.

It is no different in Scotland. Cancer treatment is the toughest fight many will ever face and patients are often left with long-term health and emotional problems long after their treatment has ended.

What we really need is a vision for the whole cancer journey. There is more we can do to prevent cancers and detect them earlier, such as providing information for all groups in society to help them understand the signs, symptoms and risk factors associated with cancer.

Early diagnosis usually offers the best chance of long term survival. For example, if you diagnose bowel cancer early, nine times out of ten you will live at least five years. Diagnose it late, and it is only one in ten who live that long. In terms of good, effective aftercare, Macmillan would like to see every cancer patient offered a personalised assessment of their on-going physical, emotional, social, practical, financial and spiritual needs.

Written up into a care plan, it will ensure the patient is supported properly after they’ve finished the treatment in hospital. It will mean they are better able to get back to work, and reclaim much of their previous lives – before their cancer. We know that care plans for people with other long-term conditions like diabetes help patients to self-manage their condition, improve survival rates and quality of life, and reduce avoidable and costly hospital admissions.

We have a massive challenge ahead if we are to keep up with the relentless toll cancer takes on people’s health, and the NHS must rise to it.

• Ciarán Devane is chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support