This could make the difference between life and death
Cancer campaigner’s wife wants rapid diagnostic centres
THE widow of a cancer campaigner is supporting a call for a rapid diagnostic regional hub in North Wales.
Before his death in May 2017, Irfon Williams, from Bangor, campaigned to highlight the plight of cancer patients in Wales and to raise funds for treatment.
His wife Rebecca has continued his fight and supported Plaid Cymru’s call for the Welsh Government to invest more in cancer diagnostics in North Wales.
She said: “Wales has some of the poorest outcomes in Europe for bowel cancer, and we know that early diagnosis and treatment of not just bowel cancer but all cancers lead to improved outcomes for patients.
“An early diagnosis is quite simply the difference between life and death.”
Newly released mortality figures reveal that cancer is the single biggest cause of death in north Wales, with 2,291 of the 8,156 recorded deaths attributable to the disease.
Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru candidate for Dwyfor Meirionnydd in the National Assembly, has called on the Welsh Government to develop a diagnostic centre in Gwynedd to prevent more untimely deaths, citing successful trials in south Wales as examples of how diagnostic centres save lives.
He said: “Cancer was the single biggest killer in Dwyfor Meirionnydd in 2018.
“It accounted for 28% of all deaths in the constituency. In the Dolgellau area, 41% of all deaths were due to cancer in 2018.
“But because of our geography, patients from Dwyfor Meirionnydd are having to travel much further to receive their treatment, with most having to go to Glan Clwyd.
“We know that early diagnosis is critical to improve patient outcomes.
“This is why we need to roll out more diagnostic centres across Wales, particularly here in rural north Wales.
“The Welsh Government have piloted rapid diagnostic centres in two of the South Wales health board areas and they’ve been hailed a massive success.”
In one instance reported by NHS Cymru at Neath Port Talbot Hospital, where a rapid diagnosis centre is being piloted, a man arrived for a consultation two days after his GP referral.
In the space of one morning, he underwent a series of tests and was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma - a cancer of the lymphatic system and started treatment the following day.