As number of people living with cancer soars by 20% in just five years, charity warns party leaders must prioritise NHS staffing this election
- The estimated number of people living with cancer has climbed 20% in just five years, new research by Macmillan Cancer Support reveals today
- Nearly three million people are now living with cancer in the UK
- Political parties are being urged to tackle ‘perfect storm’ facing NHS and patients as a ‘day-one priority’ by Macmillan CEO Lynda Thomas
The number of people living with cancer in the UK has soared to nearly three million, new research by Macmillan Cancer Support reveals today.
The charity predicts this number will rise to almost 3.5 million people in the UK by 2025.[i]
The new analysis, which uses national cancer registry data, also shows that someone is diagnosed with cancer on average every 90 seconds. Macmillan estimates that 35,000 people will receive the life-changing news that they have cancer in the five-week election period, alone.[ii]
Macmillan says this new data highlights the need for political parties to tackle the ‘perfect storm’ of rising numbers of people living with cancer amid staffing shortages and unprecedented pressures on NHS and social care professionals as a ‘day-one priority’.
The charity will today (Friday) target politicians descending on Cardiff, Wales, for the BBC Election Debate by parading two ten-foot-high digital billboards around the Welsh capital. These will be emblazoned with the real concerns of people living with cancer, alongside these never-seen-before figures. Macmillan created the billboards to bring the crucial staffing issue to the attention of senior party figures ahead of the televised head-to-head tonight. [Pics and video available from Friday morning]
Lynda Thomas, Macmillan Cancer Support’s Chief Executive, said: “More and more people are hearing the life-changing news that they have cancer, at a time when the NHS desperately needs additional doctors and nurses. Ultimately, this is whipping up a perfect storm which needs to be taken seriously as a day-one priority by party leaders.
“I constantly hear heart-breaking stories from patients who are so grateful for their healthcare professionals but often don’t want to add to their workload with their needs or concerns. We need decision makers across the UK to prioritise funding and put in place the right plans, to ensure we have a cancer workforce fit for purpose both now and in the future.”
Recent research by Macmillan also shows more than two thirds (68%) of newly diagnosed cancer patients are already not getting all the help they need with issues related to their cancer.[iii] [iv] This includes feelings of pain, fatigue, anxiety and depression. Patients who felt their healthcare professionals had unmanageable workloads (one in five) were also nearly a third more likely to say they are not getting this support.[v]
Sarah Mills, 36, from London, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2018. She said: “I have survived cancer, and yet I still live in a state of permanent stress while I navigate a system that is not resourced enough to help me. That is not the fault of my nurses — I have witnessed every nurse I’ve ever encountered doing unpaid overtime. But it is psychologically damaging. My worry is that cancer patients could be made more ill by the stress of being left without answers to important questions.”
Daloni Carlisle, 55, from Kent, was diagnosed with womb cancer in 2014 which is now treatable but not curable. She said: “I’ve been through it all — chemotherapy, radiotherapy, a hysterectomy. So many hospital appointments, so many fantastic staff but also far too many times just hanging around, anxiously waiting for appointments for up to two hours.
“It’s stressful and physically difficult when you’re living with the side effects of treatment and the disease itself. It must be equally difficult for the staff who end up apologising to sometimes angry and frustrated patients for delays that aren’t their fault. How can they possibly give the service they want to in these circumstances?
“Sometimes I wonder how they keep smiling — and believe me, despite it all, they do.”
Macmillan’s specialist advisor for workforce Nikki Cannon, who has more than 20 years’ experience working as an NHS nurse, said: “I came into the profession to help people, but the growing number of people living with cancer is outpacing the staff available to support them.
“NHS and care staff are rushed off their feet as it is — a problem that will only increase as the numbers of people living with cancer, and complex social care needs as a result, continue to rise. Party leaders cannot underestimate the importance of ensuring there are enough healthcare professionals with the right skills to provide these people, who form a significant portion of the population, with the vital care they need and deserve.”
The cancer charity warns that while cancer isn’t always life-threatening, it is always life-changing. Macmillan does all it can to help people living with cancer live their lives as fully as they can, but it cannot do it alone. The charity is funded almost entirely by generous public donations, and so it continues to call for donations to help its services be there for more people affected by cancer and calls on governments across the UK to address the staffing challenges facing the NHS and social care.
Fact box
- An estimated 1.3 million men and 1.6 million women will be living with cancer in the UK in 2020.
- This represents an increase of around 500,000 cases (18%) from 2015.
- In England alone around 2.4 million people (1.1 million men and 1.3 million women) will be living with cancer in 2020.
- Of these nearly 3 million people in the UK, over 250,000 (110,000 men and 150,000 women) will be living with cancer in Scotland, 170,000 in Wales (70,000 men and 90,000 women) and 82,000 (35,000 men and 47,000 women) in Northern Ireland.
- In 2025, Macmillan estimates that nearly 3.5 million people, of whom 1.5 million men and 1.9 million women, will be living with cancer in the UK.
- This figure is likely to grow to 4 million people within the next decade (2030).
- Breast (800,000 women) and prostate (500,000 men) are the two most common cancer types in the UK in 2020.
- There are also 340,000 people living with colorectal and 90,000 living with lung cancer.
- ENDS -
For further information, please contact:
Katie Mallion, Media & PR Officer, Macmillan Cancer Support
0207 091 2423 (out of hours 07801 307068)
Notes to Editors:
About Macmillan Cancer Support
We’re here to help everyone with cancer live life as fully as they can, providing physical, financial and emotional support. So whatever cancer throws your way, we’re right there with you. For information, support or just someone to talk to, call 0808 808 00 00 or visit macmillan.org.uk
[i] Analysis based on observed cancer prevalence published for each nation in the UK. The relationship to complete cancer prevalence is derived from 2013 complete prevalence (Macmillan-NCRAS Cancer Prevalence Project). This is projected forwards using the UK growth rates in Maddams et al. (2012), resulting in an estimated 2.5 million in 2015, 3 million in 2020 and 3.5 million people in 2025 living with cancer in the UK. This includes all people who have ever had a cancer diagnosis, some people in this group may no longer consider themselves to be living with cancer.
[ii] Analysis based on the figure of 368,707 diagnoses of cancer in 2016 in the UK, obtained through data published by the national cancer registries. This was divided by the number of weeks (52) and seconds (31,536,000) in a year and then multiplied by a period of five weeks and 90 seconds to obtain the estimate of 35,000 people and one diagnosis every 90 seconds.
[iii] Macmillan cancer support and Populus paper and online survey of 6905 people recently treated for, or diagnosed in the last 5 years with, cancer across the UK. Fieldwork July-September 2019. Survey data has been weighted to be representative of recently treated cancer population (Cancer Registration data) in terms of age, gender and cancer type within England. The weighting of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales has been based on cancer prevalence data.)
[iv] 68% want more support for their physical, emotional, practical or financial needs relating to cancer
[v] Patients who say staff have an unmanageable workload are also significantly more likely to have unmet needs (82% of those who say staff have an unmanageable workload have unmet needs, compared to 64% who do not)
