Stop ‘fighting’ cancer, urges charity

CANCER patients should not be told to “fight” their disease, because it puts them under “exhausting pressure”, Macmillan Cancer Support has said.

The charity warned that framing cancer as a battle made patients feel guilty for admitting fear and often prevented them from planning properly for their death.

Macmillan said thousands of sufferers were dying in hospital unnecessarily rather than in their own home each year because of a “gulf in communication” towards the end of life.

Research commissioned by the charity reveals that nearly two thirds of sufferers never talk to anyone about their fears of dying due to the pressure to see themselves as a “fighter”, and 28 per cent said they felt guilty if they could not stay positive about their disease.

The report said the pressure to remain positive and support people to “fight” cancer was one of the biggest barriers to holding conversations about dying, even in patients who had already received a terminal diagnosis.

Meanwhile, leading medics warn in a letter to The Daily Telegraph that promises to offer all victims of the NHS breast screening scandal a mammogram within six months are unrealistic.

SIR – Following the failure that saw hundreds of thousands of women miss their final breast screening invitations, it is right that the Health and Social Care Secretary has promised those affected aged up to 72 a catch-up appointment within six months.

But, while he also vowed that there will be no disruption to routine screening, we are very concerned that the breast screening workforce does not have the capacity to absorb such a crisis. Upholding this commitment will require extra evening and weekend clinics across the country, run by staff already stretched beyond the limit. There simply aren’t enough staff to cope with this extra work on “overtime” alone. While the number of women attending screening in England rose by 13 per cent from 2012 to 2016, the breast radiologist workforce grew by just 6 per cent.

Last year, Public Health England found the screening service to be 215 radiographers and mammography staff short – a 20 per cent shortfall based on uptake – with only 18 per cent of units having enough staff to cope with existing demand.

The screening programme remains critical to early detection in England, preventing around 1,300 deaths from breast cancer each year. As letters go out to those affected by the failure, the Government must deliver on its pledge to take “major steps” to expand the programme’s capacity.

We need a robust, realistic and fully resourced workforce plan to deliver the necessary catch-up screening and ensure the future of this world-leading service. Dr Nicola Strickland

President, Royal College of Radiologists Baroness Morgan of Drefelin

Chief Executive, Breast Cancer Now Gareth Thomas

President, Society and College of Radiographers