Wales will soon be the only country in the United Kingdom without a Cancer Strategy after Welsh Labour Ministers today refused to back a motion calling for one in Wales.
Closing this afternoon’s Welsh Conservative debate on Cancer Services, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood expressed concern that waiting lists numbers in Wales continue to rise, with nearly one in three patients waiting more than a year for treatment, and said the fact that the Labour Welsh Government were seeking to delete a motion calling on them ‘to urgently publish a workforce recruitment and retention plan for cancer specialists’, and ‘to publish a full cancer strategy setting out how Wales will tackle cancer over the next five years’ was “scandalous”.
He said:
“Instead, they offer us a ‘Quality Statement for Cancer’ that lacks detail, sets only minimum standards for cancer services, and avoids quantifiable monitoring and accountability.
“As we heard, Wales will soon be the only country in the United Kingdom without a Cancer Strategy. The public understand a Strategy, but a Quality Statement is a cop-out by those who wish to avoid accountability.
“Despite progress in recent months, the Welsh Government’s targets remain unmet and waiting lists continue to rise.
“Even before the pandemic, Cancer waiting times had not been met since 2008, and four times the number of people were waiting over a year for treatment in Wales than the whole of England.
“Even before the Pandemic, the Welsh Cancer Intelligence Unit’s data showed that Wales had the lowest survival rates for six cancers and the second lowest for three in the UK.
“Last month I hosted the online Wales Ovarian Cancer Awareness meeting organised by Target Ovarian Cancer and the National Federation of Women's Institutes Wales, where we heard that, prior to the Pandemic, only 37% of women with ovarian cancer in Wales were diagnosed at an early stage.
“Two weeks ago, I met with Macmillan Cancer. Our discussion included the increase in benefits applications by people who are terminally ill, reflecting both increased later stage diagnosis during the pandemic and forecast future growth in demand; and the need for the Welsh Government’s Quality Statement for Cancer to include milestones and community services.
“Two weeks, ago I met Prostate Cancer UK. Our discussion included the men in risk categories of early-stage Prostate Cancer not diagnosed since the pandemic. Cancer Research Wales states that ‘even prior to the current crisis, Wales performed poorly on many measures relating to the diagnosis, treatment, and survival of cancer’, adding ‘the impact of the pandemic on cancer services, especially its workforce is concerning’.
“And the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce is continuing to raise the profile of the 6 less survivable cancers and to highlight the critical importance of early diagnosis in improving survival.
“Even before Covid, Wales was already behind other UK nations in terms of cancer survival rates. Now, Welsh cancer services are struggling to cope with a tsunami of missed cancer diagnoses and the appearance of later stage cancers.
“When this is added to years of chronic understaffing, it is easier to understand why cancer charities say that the Cancer Quality Statement lacks both detail and ambition – it is not a National Strategy. I urge Members to support our motion accordingly.”