Young Lives vs Cancer responds to Our Plan for Patients

Today, the Secretary of State for Health of Social Care Thérèse Coffey announced the “Our Plan For Patients”, which includes her four “ABCD” priority areas of ambulances, backlogs, care and doctors and dentists. The Plan includes initiatives which are aimed at supporting patients to access GP and dentist appointments, and reduce ambulance waiting times and backlogs.

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In response to this announcement, Young Lives vs Cancer said;

“Our research shows that over half of young people (52%) and almost half of parents (49%) have visited their GP at least three times before their cancer was diagnosed, with a quarter of young people (24%) and one in five parents (18%) requiring five visits before receiving a diagnosis.

“Whilst we welcome initiatives that will support GPs to provide more access to timely appointments, to be truly beneficial, we need to see increased awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer in children and young people so they are diagnosed quickly.

“Within the Health Secretary’s “A, B, C, D” priorities, the “Our Plan for Patients” must also ensure that a critical “C” – cancer – is not forgotten, and that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are met. We are eager to see how this plan and the Government’s 10-Year Cancer Plan will address this.”

“The Government are also still expected to publish the 10-Year Cancer Plan committed to earlier this year, but have not yet confirmed when the Plan will be released. Young Lives vs Cancer recently joined 50+ charities in calling for the Health Secretary to commit to publishing the 10-Year Cancer Plan.