Date: 7 December 2011
Author: Trefine Maynard

In an interview reported today, the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley has highlighted the fact that the UK lags far behind the international benchmark for cancer survival and said that were these benchmarks to be achieved, 5,000 lives a year would be saved.

Many people come to us with stories about delays in cancer diagnosis or treatment and these cases are always heartrending. The public is constantly told that early diagnosis and treatment gives the best chance of a good outcome and yet distressingly, often these are missed by health professionals. The acknowledgement that we are falling far short of what is being achieved in other countries is confirmation of what many patients have suspected. It would be fantastic if we could move to a position where we were leading standards of care rather than trying to catch up with the levels of treatment and success that other countries enjoy.

Andrew Lansley said in the same interview that patients will be surveyed on the care they or their loved ones have received in hospitals and that these surveys will be used to measure the quality of care given and to improve it. 

Trefine Maynard, a partner in the Ashton KCJ Medical Injury Team, comments: “Many of the clients who contact us are prompted by despair at poor levels of care and what is seen as a lack of attention to what patients and their families need both in terms of information and advice. All too often patients are ignored when they report problems with treatment or with deterioration in their own or their loved one’s condition and this can lead to catastrophic outcomes. If this can now be addressed and if patient surveys are taken seriously and acted upon, it can only lead to a very welcome improvement in care and perhaps a return to the respect that the public always used to have for the NHS and would dearly love to have again”.