On the 27th of August, we joined over 60 other charities in delivering an urgent message to the government: cancer rates are rising, and we need urgent action to address this.
Under the banner of One Cancer Voice, organisations from across our sector joined forces in front of the Houses of Parliament to draw attention to this crisis. Together, we assembled an enormous jigsaw puzzle, with each piece representing a statistic about the projected cancer diagnoses by 2040. When pieced together, the picture spelled out a sobering message: “Over 6 million new cancer cases by 2040”
That is roughly one person every two minutes. Of this figure, it is estimated that roughly 630,000 will be LGBTIQ+.
We therefore need the government to deliver a comprehensive, fully costed Cancer Plan to tackle this staggering figure.
This is about more than just keeping the number of cases down; it is about improving the lives of people living with and beyond cancer, expanding access to world-class treatments, and ensuring nobody has worse access to care because of who they are.
With this in mind, we also set out these six key tests for the Cancer Plan to meet:
- Pledge to meet all cancer wait times by 2029 – the end of this Parliament
- Set a new earlier diagnosis target, improve screening programmes and support primary care to reduce later stage cancer diagnosis
- Introduce strong prevention policies, tackling major risk factors
- Ensure every patient receives the best possible treatment and inequalities are addressed
- Improve access to clinical trials for cancer patients, positioning the NHS as the world leader for cancer research and innovation
- Support everyone to live well with and beyond cancer with practical and emotional support embedded in NHS cancer care
Our message made waves in the press, and was covered by The Guardian, The Times, and Sky News.
As the government continues to develop the Cancer Plan, we will continue to apply this pressure. We want to see a plan that is explicit about the inequalities LGBTIQ+ people face in cancer care, and sets out a roadmap to quicker, better, and more personalised care for all, and we will keep working with voices across the sector until we get there.
Thank you to OCV for organising this event, and for uniting so many organisations behind this urgent call.