Number of skin cancer patients in North Cumbria soars as Tim Farron calls for scrapping of VAT on high-factor sunscreen

The number of patients in North Cumbria waiting for skin cancer treatment on the NHS has risen by 50% in the past five years, FOI requests by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

Local MP Tim Farron is calling for high-factor protective sunscreens to exempt from VAT to make them more affordable, along with a broader package to cut cancer treatment times including recruiting more cancer nurses.

A survey conducted last year by the charity Melanoma Focus found that 50% of people think sunscreen is too expensive, with one in 10 saying they do not use it because it is too expensive.

The figures show 363 people in North Cumbria were on an NHS waiting list to start treatment for skin cancer in the year 2023/24, up 50.6% compared to 2019/20.

The data also shows that one in five of those patients (72) were waiting more than two months to start treatment, compared to just 3% of patients (8) back in 2019/20.

Last year one patient was left waiting a staggering 297 days, or more than nine months, following an urgent referral for treatment. 

Tim said: “We are tragically seeing cancer patients in Cumbria left waiting far too long for the care they need. 

“Skin cancer services are in desperate need of support and the staggering increase in referrals shows we must do more to prevent people from getting skin cancer in the first place.

“That means making it affordable for people to protect themselves from skin cancer by cutting VAT on high-factor protective sunscreen and securing a public commitment from major retailers that they will pass on the financial benefit to consumers. 

“We also need to ensure that all patients start treatment as soon as possible and this government needs to make recruiting more cancer nurses a top priority.”