Prynhawn Da/Good Afternoon -
And thank you to the Wales Cancer Alliance, a coalition of 16 organisations, for inviting me to sponsor this event:
- Focused on the importance of working in partnership with the third sector to implement the new Wales Cancer Delivery Plan, launched in November 2016.
- And to hear from members of the Wales Cancer Alliance about their vision to address inequalities in cancer care as NHS Wales and its partners start to bring to life the new Cancer Delivery Plan.
With the number of people living with cancer in Wales expected to reach 240,000 by 2030, Wales Cancer Alliance wants to ensure that cancer services are meeting the needs of people affected by cancer in the years to come.
The third sector has an incredibly important voice in influencing the strategic cancer agenda as well as delivering practical services for people at a local level.
The Cancer Delivery Plan cuts across all aspects of patient care and through its implementation, cancer services should be better placed to meet the demands of people affected by cancer in the coming years.
Currently the Wales Cancer Alliance is campaigning on:
- The development and roll out of the Performance Management Framework in relation to the new Cancer Delivery Plan.
- Ensuring the principles of closing the gap between ‘the best and the rest’ in cancer care are maintained ie reducing inequalities
- And maintaining a focus on patient involvement and patient centred care in the delivery of cancer services in Wales.
The Wales Cancer Alliance promotes the best cancer prevention, treatment, research and care for people in Wales. Every year they invest more than £30m in Wales and contribute to the development of cancer policy.
They believe that people affected by cancer and their carers should be at the heart of co-creating new services and cancer policy.
Today is also Lynch Syndrome Awareness Day – an inherited genetic condition that increases the risk of Bowel Cancer by up to 80%, and many other Cancers, with a 50/50 chance of passing it onto your children.
Incidence of cancer varies by 22% between the most and least deprived areas in Wales.
Factors such as smoking, excessive drinking, obesity and physical inactivity can increase the likelihood of cancer.
It is therefore critical that the new delivery plan works in tandem with targeted public health messaging, that helps people better understand the impact of unhealthy lifestyles on their long term health.
Our growing and ageing population will eventually see one in two of us developing Cancer.
The Welsh Government’s Cancer Annual Report, published last month, states “Rapid access to diagnostics and turnaround of result is key to early treatment”.
Detecting cancer early means treatment can be less intensive, expensive and more likely to deliver improved patient outcomes.
However, if aspiration is to become reality, the Welsh NHS must co-produce, design and deliver solutions with Wales Cancer Alliance Members.
In its response to the Welsh Government’s Individual Patient Funding Request – or IPFR - Review, regarding treatments that are not routinely funded through the NHS, including some cancer medicines, Cancer Research UK called for a new and clearly communicated definition of clinical exceptionality, and a robust and clear route for patients and clinicians to appeal decisions.
Speaking in the Assembly Chamber yesterday, the Health Secretary Vaughan Gething, said “that clinical exceptionality is not a well understood concept and is open to varying interpretations” and that “Health Boards, supported by the All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre, have already began the initial work to reform the clinical decision criteria with the aim of making changes to the guidance by May”.
In supporting the proposed changes to the exceptionality clause, Cancer Research UK have stated that they would welcome more detail on how this may work in practice, including what measures will be used to determine value for money.
The majority of end of life care in Wales is provided by local hospices across a range of settings, including inpatient units and hospice at home services.
Speaking in the Assembly as Chair of the Cross Party Group on Hospices and Palliative Care, sponsored by Hospices Cymru,18 months ago, I stated:
“Living longer does not mean living healthier and it is predicted that people will live with co –morbidities, not just cancer. The impact on palliative care in Wales is significant. What we don’t know is what services will be needed to support the provision of palliative care and therefore to help NHS Wales, Health Boards and third sector providers plan services adequately”.
Quoting the North Wales Hospices Liaison Group Report on ‘The Future of Palliative Care in North Wales,’ I stated “the lack of a coherent palliative care strategy for North Wales, based on a comprehensive needs assessment, was preventing service providers, including hospices, from planning effectively for the future”.
Quoting Marie Curie’s Report “Triggers for Palliative Care in Wales,” I stated: “There is much work to be done if Wales is going to achieve its vision of access to high quality care for everyone who needs it, regardless of their underlying condition”.
Three weeks ago, I attended the Marie Curie lecture on “a compassionate community approach to end of life care”, highlighting the need to provide people near the end of their lives with the support they need to remain in their communities, by applying health promotion and community development principles.
I will conclude by referring to the experience of a cancer survivor, my youngest daughter and the second of my daughters to survive Thyroid Cancer.
She was diagnosed a few months after University graduation in 2015 and has asked me to share the following with you about her experience with Wales Cancer Alliance Members:
“I did Outrun May 2016, the running challenge, for Macmillan cancer support.
I've also done bucket money collecting for CLIC Sargent at Venue Cymru in Llandudno at the Kaiser Chiefs concert, and helped to advertise their bands for World Cancer Day by being part of their online campaign.
CLIC Sargent have hooked me up with the other charities, they provided me with a grant to help with travel costs etc, a Social Worker who I still see now and they have peer support group meetings with other young people in your area.
They were the ones who put me in contact with the Ellen MacArthur cancer trust, who I went sailing round the West coast of Scotland with last year, and with whom I will be taking part in the Round Britain challenge new this year, sailing all the way round Wales for 5 days from the end of August”.
As for myself, I look forward to joining Mike Peters of The Alarm’s “By Your Side” walk in June, dedicated to everyone in North Wales living with cancer, all those we have lost and the thousands of people in the region who will be diagnosed with cancer in the future.
The third sector has a vital role to play in developing, reshaping and delivering improvements in cancer care - working in partnership with the Welsh Government, the NHS, local government and other stakeholders and we must all support them in this.