MP tables motion in Parliament urging Government to catch up with cancer to save thousands of lives

South Lakes MP and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Radiotherapy Tim Farron has tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament urging the Government to boost cancer services to save lives being lost because of delays to treatment caused by COVID-19.

The motion calls for the Government to implement the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Radiotherapy's six-point plan to clear the cancer backlog by transforming radiotherapy services.

It comes after the BBC's Panorama programme revealed that the lives of tens of thousands of cancer patients could be lost because of the crisis.

A petition calling for an end to cancer treatment delays has reached almost 175,000 signatures in the space of just two weeks.

The petition was set up by Craig and Mandy Russell whose daughter Kelly Smith died last month from bowel cancer at the age of just 31. Craig and Mandy say Kelly's life was "drastically cut short after her chemotherapy stopped as a direct result of COVID".

Speaking during a debate in Parliament last week, Tim said: "Undoubtedly we are facing the potential for there to be more people who lose their lives as a consequence of cancer treatments that were delayed because of COVID, than who lost their lives to COVID itself.

"We need to catch up with cancer.

"We need to make sure that radiotherapy is used as a substitutionary treatment, brought to places like Westmorland General Hospital to be delivered closer to people's homes.

"We should not do what the Government is planning to do which is not getting cancer services back to normal until Christmas - we need act now to save thousands and thousands of lives."