Right now, cancer care in the UK isn’t fair and there are unacceptable differences in people’s experiences of diagnosis, treatment, and care.
The latest evidence shows the UK’s ‘cancer postcode lottery’ could see 1.4 million people left behind by lack of access to treatment options, long travel times, and long waiting lists. People face increased costs, stress, anxiety and exhaustion as a result. At its most extreme, people have had to turn down critical cancer tests and treatment simply because they lived too far away.
For Lisa, cancer care felt like a matter of being in the “right place, at the right time” and she received a 45-minute robotic surgery during her treatment for head and neck cancer. Shaun only recently heard that such surgery exists. While hugely grateful for the life-saving treatment he received, he underwent 17 hours of traditional surgery involving a surgeon removing his jaw and lymph nodes, while another removed the fibula from his left leg to help reconstruct his jaw. He says, “the experience has had a big impact on my life. Something as simple as a kiss with your partner is different now. We jokingly call them 50% kisses as I only feel on my top lip, but I am so grateful to be here. 50% kisses beat no kisses any day of the week.”
At Macmillan, we’re working hard to bring together UK decision-makers, people with cancer and local communities to help tackle widespread inconsistencies and make sure every person gets the care that is right for them, no matter where they live.
We’ll do whatever it takes to help more people with cancer across the UK get the best possible care, whoever and wherever they are.