Health reporter(wp/es):
Thousands of terminal breast cancer patients are being denied a designated nurse, new figures show.
Some 72 per cent of NHS Trusts across England, Scotland and Wales do not provide a dedicated nurse for people with incurable breast cancer.
The Breast Cancer Care charity said its findings, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, were “staggering”.
The stats come three years after the government promised all cancer patients would get a designated nurse.
Chief executive Samia al Qadhi said: “Our staggering findings reveal just how much NHS nursing care for people with incurable breast cancer has stagnated.
“After this life-changing and life-limiting diagnosis patients continue to be abandoned without the ongoing, specialist support they need to manage complex treatment and debilitating side effects, like chronic pain and fatigue.”
She demanded the government invest so that “everyone has access to the specialist support they need, when they need it”.
An NHS spokesperson said: “Everyone with cancer is unique and patients themselves say their experience of being looked after is getting better every year - which makes sense as your chance of surviving cancer is now at its highest ever.”
Jo Myatt, 42 from Chorley, Lancashire, was diagnosed with incurable secondary breast cancer in August 2016, 10 years after her primary breast cancer.
She said: “I was totally overwhelmed and mourning the future I’d never have – and yet had no dedicated nurse.
“That person to contact for emotional support, or to guide me through my long list of questions about available treatments and the side effects that I would experience.
“It’s incredibly disappointing to see such a lack of progress in getting people with incurable breast cancer, like me, the nursing support we so urgently need. We do not have the time to wait – we all deserve the best care possible today.”
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