Category Archives: Cancer

More money needs to be spent on improving radiotherapy

August 2, 2011   Cancer, Carers

Cancer Drugs Fund is money ill-spent, say radiographers

David Cameron’s flagship Cancer Drugs Fund has been attacked by radiographers who say that if just “a fraction” of its £200 million budget was spent on improving radiotherapy, “the impact would be immense”.

 
Stephen Adams

By , Medical Correspondent

5:05PM BST 02 Aug 2011

For some time radiographers have felt ignored while chemotherapy drugs which in many cases only prolong life by a matter of months have received enormous press and political attention.

Before last year’s general election Mr Cameron came up with the idea of allocating £200 million a year to give patients access to drugs turned down for NHS funding by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

While popular, the fund is controversial because some cancer specialists believe the money could be better spent elsewhere.

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‘Breast cancer screening saves lives’

July 29, 2011   Cancer, Carers

A study published today in the British Medical journal has found breast cancer screening had “little detectable impact” on reducing death rates from the disease. Dr Sarah Rawlings from Breakthrough Breast Cancer insists screening programmes are still important in saving lives.

 

6:51PM BST 29 Jul 2011 

Dr Rawlings said the study did not take results from breast cancer screening in England but instead compared breast cancer death rates in three pairs of similar territories: Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland; Sweden to Norway; and The Netherlands to Flanders in Belgium.

“It is estimated that 1,400 lives are saved every year by women attending breast screening,” Dr Rawlings said.

“It would be a real shame if women over the age of fifty who are eligible for breast screening now stop going because of this report.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8670523/Breast-cancer-screening-saves-lives.html

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The first time the voluntary sector has responsibility for an area’s entire palliative services

July 26, 2011   Cancer, Carers

Palliative care outsourced to voluntary sector at two trusts

The wholesale transfer of end-of-life care to charities at two health trusts puts them at the vanguard of the government’s NHS reform plans

     

People attending the Sue Ryder daycare units get nursing care, physiotherapy and dietary advice.
Richard Pither has heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He has had seven heart attacks and three strokes, which has left him unable to walk more than five to 10 yards. He has an intensive daily medication regime, must sleep upright and is unable to speak for long periods without his oxygen mask. For the last three months, Pither, 60, has been attending a day therapy unit for patients with life- limiting illnesses at the Duchess of Kent hospice on the outskirts of Reading.
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