Health chiefs back brave Tessa’s call for cancer test

ONE of Dame Tessa Jowell’s last heartfelt wishes has been honoured in new health guidance.

Before she died at 70 from brain cancer, the former Labour MP, pictured, highlighted how a ‘gold standard’ surgical aid was used in only half of the UK’s specialist surgery centres. In one of her final House of Lords speeches she called for all of them to use a dye called 5ALA, known as the pink drink, which helps identify tumours more accurately.

Now new guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) calls for more use of the dye, which makes cancer cells glow pink in UV light. It says 1,500 people a year could benefit.

Cameron Miller of the Brain Tumour Charity said: ‘Tessa Jowell was determined to improve treatments and outcomes for everyone diagnosed with a brain tumour. This new guidance represents real progress towards that goal.’