Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has pledged to help stop bowel cancer in North Wales.
His pledge comes after meeting people affected by bowel cancer at the launch of Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer’s ‘Spotlight on bowel cancer in Wales: early diagnosis saves lives’ report at The Senedd, Cardiff Bay on Tuesday 6 February 2018.
The report highlights five out of seven health boards breach waiting times for tests that can diagnose bowel cancer, an alarmingly low number of eligible people take part in the bowel screening test (53%) and just over half of patients diagnosed with bowel cancer in Wales survive for five years or more (58%).
Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in Wales. Across Wales there were 77.2 new cases of bowel cancer for every 100,000 people between 2013 -2015, rising to 79.1 new cases for every 100,000 people in the North Wales region covered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
Every year 2,200 people are diagnosed and over 900 people die from the disease, making bowel cancer the second biggest cancer killer. Early diagnosis is crucial because the chance of surviving the disease is closely linked to the stage of cancer.
Nearly everyone diagnosed at the earliest stage of disease (stage 1) will survive, however survival rate drops significantly for those who are diagnosed at the later stages (stage 3 or 4).
Mr Isherwood said:
“It simply isn’t acceptable that so many people die from bowel cancer each year. We need to work harder to ensure that more people are diagnosed early when chances of survival are high. That’s why I’m proud to support Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer’s work to stop bowel cancer.”
Lowri Griffiths, Head of Wales at Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer, says: “I’m delighted that Mark has pledged to stop bowel cancer. By working together with people affected by the disease and the clinical and research community, as well as AMs, the charity can achieve its vision that by 2050 no one will die from bowel cancer in Wales and the rest of the UK.”