MP secures meeting with Health Secretary over Cumbria’s cancer crisis

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Victoria Atkins has agreed to meet with Cumbrian MP Tim Farron to discuss improving cancer waiting times in the county.

New figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats revealed that Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust cancelled 123 cancer related surgeries in 2022/23, a 28% increase on the previous year and the 12th highest in England.

Meanwhile, the latest figures from the NHS showed that in October, nearly half (47%) of cancer patients in North Cumbria were waiting more than two months to start their first treatment.

Last year, the Government scrapped its longstanding cancer plan and instead merged it into a wider “major conditions strategy” that also covers a range of other major diseases.

This week, Tim tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament which calls for a ‘National Cancer Control Plan’ to help clear the enormous backlog of patients waiting for treatment.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Tim said: “NHS winter pressures are having a huge impact on cancer surgery and other cancer interventions. In Cumbria, in the south of the county 25% of those with a cancer diagnosis are waiting more than two months for their first intervention, and in the north of the county 47% are waiting more than two months. We know that every month’s delay in treatment means a 10% reduction in people’s chances of surviving.

“Some 123 cancer operations have been cancelled in the last year in our area. One reason is the lack of investment by this Government, and their predecessors of all colours, in radiotherapy.

“Will the Secretary of State agree to meet me and Conservative and Labour members of the all-party parliamentary group for radiotherapy, which I chair, to look at solving the problem by investing in the kit that Britain desperately needs to save lives?”

In reply, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said: “I hope the honourable gentleman will be interested to know that we have made cancer treatment waiting times a key focus of our elective recovery plan, which has been backed by an additional £8 billion in revenue funding across the spending review period.

“We have made progress by delivering record numbers of urgent cancer checks, with more than 2.9 million people seen in the 12 months to October last year.

“Of course there is more to do, and I would be very happy to meet him and colleagues across the House to discuss the practical ways by which treatment can reach our constituents.

“He will not be surprised to know that cancer is a priority not just for me personally, but for the Government as a whole.”