This week the UK government has announced a key part of its plan to improve cancer care in England. In order to improve the care that patients receive, NHS England will introduce a target  to ensure that patients are given a confirmed diagnosis or all-clear within four weeks of being referred by their GP.

The target the government  is aiming for is that by 2020 95% of patients will receive a confirmed diagnosed within four weeks. To achieve this the NHS has to invest £300M a year until 2020 and train 200 extra staff to perform diagnostic tests for certain cancers.

This 95% target by 2020 was recommended by the independent cancer taskforce and the plans to achieve this will be piloted in five hospitals before being rolled out nationally. It is hoped that achieving this target will save 11,000 lives a year by increasing the number of cancers diagnosed at an early stage.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK’s Health Secretary said:

“For people who are worried they may have cancer, waiting for that all important test result is a nerve-wracking time. We have a duty to make sure this period of uncertainty is as short as possible. For those who get the all-clear, they will have peace of mind sooner. Those who sadly have cancer will get treatment much quicker and we will save thousands of lives as a result.”

Last week, Diabetes UK reported that the number of people living with diabetes has risen by a staggering 60% over the past 10 years.  They stated that 3.3 million people in the UK have some form of the condition which is up from 2.1 million in 2005.

About  90% of diabetes cases are type II which is strongly linked to lifestyle  (diet and obesity) therefore we can reverse this trend by encouraging the UK’s population to change their lifestyle and adopt a healthy lifestyle.

The black community is three times more likely to develop diabetes and hence it is important that we take note of these statistics and make a concerted effort to do something about this.

As a community we have to look at our diet, make changes and get more active in order to beat this condition.

This week the UK’s Independent Cancer Task Force published its report ‘Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015-2020’. In their report the task force sets out a number of recommendations but propose six strategic priorities for the next 5 years:

1. Spearhead a radical upgrade in prevention and public health
2. Drive a national ambition to achieve earlier diagnosis
3. Establish patient experience as being on a par with clinical effectiveness and safety
4. Transform our approach to support people living with and beyond cancer
5. Make the necessary investments required to deliver a modern high quality service
6. Overhaul processes for commissioning, accountability and provision

We welcome these recommendations as if implemented properly and with specific approaches for the BME community this will greatly benefit the black community who have been shown to have particular challenges when it comes to cancer. These include increased risk of prostate cancer, myeloma and cervical cancer in the over 64s; lower levels of awareness of symptoms; being more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage; and being less likely to access cancer screening services.

We were also happy to see in the full report that one of the recommendations focused on increasing BME representation in NHS England’s regular Cancer Patient Experience Survey. This will help create an understanding of why the BME community consistently report having a worse experience of care than their white counterparts.

We will monitor NHS England’s progress in implementing these recommendations and will play our part to ensure the black community benefits from this new strategy.

You can read the full report and executive summary below.

In June, the Basil Skyers Myeloma Foundation officially launched their report ‘Listen Up!  – Multiple Myeloma in Black Communities: An Unequal  Burden’. This was a very interesting report that aimed to provide a comprehensive view of how myeloma (a cancer that starts in the bone marrow) affects the black community.

From their work the authors found that myeloma disproportionately affects the black population with black people being 2-3 times more likely as white people to be diagnosed.  Specifically,  this disease is a challenge for black men with black men having the highest incidence and mortality than any other group.  In addition, black people affected by myeloma are likely to develop it at a slightly younger age and are on average four years younger than white people when diagnosed.  The reason why myeloma is more common in the black community is unknown and the report stresses the importance of further research to fully understand myeloma and its effects on the black community.

The report makes the following recommendations:

1. The improvement of the collection and interpretation of data on myeloma including ethnicity data.
2. Race and ethnicity should be consistently taken into account in clinical research in order to inform the development of clinically and culturally appropriate healthcare services.
3. Studies should be commissioned to understand the differences in diagnosis, survival and mortality between black and white groups, and to understand the efficacy of treatments
4. Wider attention should be given by local authorities, clinical commissioning groups and other public sector partners to the specific  health needs of the black community.

This is an interesting report that clearly highlights how myeloma affects the black community and the steps that need to be taken to start addressing the inequalities that exist in this disease area. The Lake Foundation  will aim to play its part in assisting in addressing some of these issues.

You can read the full report below.

This week the National Institute for  Health and Care Excellence updated its suspected cancer GP guidelines and in doing so hopes to provide GPs with clear guidance to facilitate early diagnosis and  therefore a reduction in cancer deaths.

The guidelines use a new approach that focuses on patients’ symptoms rather than a particular cancer.  This means that patients who have  symptoms that relate to multiple cancers will be  investigated more appropriately as their symptoms will be brought together to determine all the potential cancers it could be rather than just looking at one cancer.

These new recommendations hope to ensure that GPs act faster when a patient has specific types of symptoms and give clear steps on what a GP should do to make a prompt diagnosis.
This is good news for patients as it means that GPs will now look at all symptoms together to get a full picture of what’s happening to their patient rather than looking at symptoms in isolation. Ultimately this should mean less visits to the GP, a quick referral and hopefully an early diagnosis.

Ovarian cancer can be a very challenging cancer to diagnose at an early stage because the symptoms are hard to recognise as they are similar to a number of non-serious conditions and have been described by many as “vague” and “non-specific” symptoms. Additionally, unlike breast cervical and bowel cancer there is no national screening programme for women because there currently isn’t a test that is accurate, specific and sensitive enough to be used as a national screening test.  This means that the majority of patients are diagnosed with late stage disease which is hard to treat.

This week scientists have published very encouraging data from a large 14-year study that shows that a test based on determining a woman’s CA125 (a protein found in the blood) profile is effective at detecting ovarian cancer. In fact it was found to identify 86% of ovarian cancers. This data could mean that we are one step closer to a screening test for ovarian cancer. The full data from the trial will be published at the end of the year and will tell us whether this test actually detects ovarian cancer early enough to save lives.

One of the lead investigators in this trial Prof Usha Menon said:

“These results are therefore very encouraging. They show that use of an early detection strategy based on an individual’s CA125 profile significantly improved cancer detection compared to what we’ve seen in previous screening trials.”

If the full results at the end of the year show that lives were actually saved through earlier detection of ovarian cancer, this will be one of the biggest breakthroughs in the detection of ovarian cancer and would for the first time enable a significant improvement in survival rates.

Prostate Cancer UK ‘s  new film, released this week, very effectively raises awareness of the fact that black men are at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer than other ethnic groups. You can watch this film below and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Macmillan Cancer Support has commissioned TNS BMRB, an independent research company, to explore the barriers and motivations for physical activity for those living with and beyond cancer. This research will help inform the development of interventions to help those living with and beyond cancer engage with the benefits of physical activity. TNS BMRB is an independent research agency which conducts work for a range of government departments and charities.

In April, TNS BMRB will be conducting one hour face-to-face home interviews with people living with and beyond cancer. This can be at a date and time most convenient for the individual.  TNS BMRB will be conducting additional research online later in May, which will be conducted through a smartphone app and online. This may be more appropriate for those who do not wish to have a face to face interview, or prefer to participate remotely.

In the interview participants will be asked about their attitudes towards physical activity, after treatment and at other times.  Participation in interviews is flexible – we can pause or stop the interview at any time for any reason. Taking part in this research is  completely confidential and anonymous, and the information provided will be used for research purposes only. We offer all participants a £40 gift as a thank you for their time.

We wish to include a broad spectrum of people living with and beyond cancer as part of the research – so we are interested in speaking to everyone. However, we are also aiming to reach some particular groups:

• People aged 14-20
• Aged 75 and over
• People currently receiving treatment
• People post-treatment, who have a non-curable cancer, or an advanced cancer and are in palliative care
• Those who do not have very active lifestyles

If you are interested in taking part or would like more information please contact Rebecca Paton (Rebecca.paton@tns-bmrb.co.uk, +44 7831 702513)

Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust is looking for women from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities to help them make a new film which aims to reduce health inequalities by raising awareness of cervical cancer and how to prevent it through attending cervical screening (smear tests).

If you are from a BME community, aged 25 to 64  and are  are happy to be filmed on the 14th April near Kings Cross in London , then you can get involved.  You’ll be needed between 12.00 and 4.30 pm and Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust can cover all reasonable travel costs.

They are  looking for a mixture of women, some of whom have been for their smear test and others who have been invited but not attended. If you have been through cervical screening they will ask you to talk about your experience.

The film will be shown to 
– Women eligible for screening in the UK (grandmothers, mothers, daughters) focusing on BME women
– Health Professionals: Primary & Secondary health care professionals
– Employers & Unions
– Anyone that likes to gain information via a video

It will be used on the:
– JCCT’s website to compliment online written content
–  Within  presentations and public facing events to raise awareness of cervical screening
– Social media: facebook, twitter etc.

If you would like to help raise awareness amongst women from all communities and help JCCT prevent cervical cancer please contact:
Claire Cohen, Information and Education Manager, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust
T: 020 7250 8311
E: claire@jostrust.org.uk

Target Ovarian Cancer and the Penny Brohn Cancer Centre are pleased to announce their three day Living Well course. This course is aimed at women who have recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer or have recurrent ovarian cancer.

This is a free residential course that will cover:

• Managing stress through relaxation and simple breathing exercises
• Coping with the emotional and psychological impact of cancer and its treatment
• How to prepare and enjoy healthy food
• Finding a way to bring manageable exercise into your life
• Discussing the impact of a cancer diagnosis on relationships
• Consider how living with cancer affects our deepest values and beliefs
• Receiving basic information on financial welfare

This course will be held on Tuesday 28^th  April to Thursday 30^th April 2015