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Found 537 results
  1. News Article
    The number of people who die after a breast cancer diagnosis has decreased by two-thirds since the 1990s, a study of more than half a million women in England has shown. The research has taken ten years to complete, says Carolyn Taylor, lead author of the study and an oncologist at the University of Oxford, UK. The analysis includes the 512,447 women in England who were diagnosed with early invasive breast cancer between January 1993 and December 2015. The results published in the BMJ found women who were diagnosed in 1993–99 had a 14.4% risk of dying within 5 years. This fell to 4.9% for women diagnosed in 2010–15. Patient involvement was important to the study, Taylor says. The scientists appointed two patient representatives to guide their research. “They helped us in the questions to be addressed. They looked at the analyses and gave comments and suggestions throughout the study. And they helped us to interpret the results in the way that patients can understand.” Read full story Source: Nature, 23 June 2023
  2. News Article
    A new type of artificial-intelligence technology that cuts the time cancer patients must wait before starting radiotherapy is to be offered at cost price to all NHS trusts in England. It helps doctors calculate where to direct the therapeutic radiation beams, to kill cancerous cells while sparing as many healthy ones as possible. Researchers at Addenbrooke's Hospital trained the AI program with Microsoft. For each patient, doctors typically spend between 25 minutes and two hours working through about 100 scan cross-sections, carefully "contouring" or outlining bones and organs. But the AI program works two and a half times quicker, the researchers say. When treating the prostate gland, for example, medics want to avoid damage to the nearby bladder or rectum, which could leave patients with lifelong continence issues. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 June 2023
  3. News Article
    The gap between the areas with the best and worst records on the early detection of cancer has remained almost unchanged over the past five years, new NHS England data indicates. The proportion of cancers detected at stages one and two – when they are more curable – has improved by 2.7 percentage points to 58.1% nationally, but this masks significant regional variation. In the 12 months to February 2019, the percentage point difference between the top performing cancer alliance – Thames Valley (63.1%t) – and the worst performing – Lancashire and South Cumbria (51.6%) – was 11.5. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 June 2023
  4. News Article
    Everyone who has ever smoked in England is to be offered lung screening in middle age under plans to detect and treat cancer earlier. Lung cancer kills about 35,000 people every year, and is the most common cause of cancer death in the UK, accounting for one in five. It also has one of the worst cancer survival rates, which is largely attributed to diagnoses at a late stage when treatment is less likely to be effective. Millions of people will be invited for lung checks in an effort to improve survival rates. About a million screenings of people aged 55 to 74 will be carried out every year under the programme. It follows a successful pilot of the scheme in deprived areas of the country where people are four times more likely to smoke. It resulted in more than 2,000 people being detected as having cancer, 76% of them at an earlier stage compared with 29% outside the programme in 2019. “Identifying lung cancer early saves lives, and the expansion of the NHS’s targeted lung health check programme is another landmark step forward in our drive to find and treat more people living with this devastating disease at the earliest stage,” said the chief executive of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 June 2023
  5. News Article
    A national robotic-assisted surgery programme allowing surgeons to perform complex procedures with more precision and control is being introduced in Wales, the Health Minister has announced. The All-Wales Robotic Assisted Surgery Network, developed by health boards, the Life Sciences Hub Wales and the Moondance Cancer Initiative, will provide less invasive surgery for thousands of cancer patients across the country. The surgery involves the use of highly advanced robotic surgical instruments under the control of a surgeon. It will initially be used in Wales for some Colorectal, Upper Gastrointestinal, Urological and Gynaecological cancers. The Welsh Government will support the network with funding of £4.2m over five years, alongside £13.35m provided by health boards over 10 years. Health and Social Services Minister Eluned Morgan said: "The All-Wales Robotic Assisted Surgery Network is an ambitious and important programme helping to improve outcomes for patients and the NHS in Wales. It will put Wales at the forefront of international research for the use of robotic surgical techniques. This pioneering service will also encourage specialist staff to come to Wales to train and practice". It will initially be provided in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area, with the first patient expected to receive treatment in June. Once fully established, patients in north Wales will no longer need to travel to England to receive robotic-assisted surgery. Read full story Source: Welsh Government, 14 March 2022
  6. News Article
    Dee Dickens, 52, from Pontypridd, made the difficult choice to seek private healthcare even though she is ideologically opposed to it. After discovering a lump in her breast she was referred for a scan on the NHS’s two-week rule for suspected cancer. But after waiting six weeks, and being continually being told the waiting time was going up, eventually to a three-month wait, she was forced to pay for her own scan and appointment privately. “In February last year, I found a lump in my breast, and went to the doctor that day. The doctor examined me and said, ‘I don’t like that.’ She said the lump was the size of the top of her index finger and she would rush me through for an urgent screening that would take no longer than two weeks. “Two weeks later, I’d heard nothing so I gave them a call. They said that because of Covid, things had slowed down and it might take four weeks. “A week later, one of my breasts had swelled up. It was itching and hot and it felt like it was infected. I felt unwell, too. But I was stressed to the gills. Every day, I was worried I was going to die. We know that we’re against the clock when it’s cancer. “I went straight back to the doctor and she rang the hospital. They said, ‘We will put your patient right at the top of the waiting list, but it will now be six weeks.’ “At six weeks, I still hadn’t heard anything, so I called the hospital. They said that I was at the top of the list still, but it would now be 10 weeks. The wait was going up because, during the worst of Covid, they hadn’t seen anyone so they were now on catchup." “I’d had enough. Every single day I was more and more worried and my mental health was worse and worse, and my family was having to deal with me crying over stupid things. been talking about going private. But I’d been resistant – we’re both very leftwing and believe passionately in the NHS. However, in the Dee made an appointment with a private clinic. She was seen immediately. “After the scan, the doctor told me that the lumps were glandular tissue. The swelling, the pain and itching – were all stress related. As soon as he said, ‘You’re not going to die,’ they stopped. “The NHS is the only thing I’m truly proud of in the UK. What worries me is I can see it disappearing, if not in my lifetime then in my children’s lifetime. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to go private. It felt absolutely awful to have to make the choice I did. “On the one hand, I knew I would have an answer. But on the other, I knew there were so many women who wouldn’t be able to do what I was doing. I felt guilty, I felt I’d put my own life above my principles." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 September 2022
  7. News Article
    The backlog of urgent cancer referral patients who have waited 104 days or more for treatment has increased month-on-month again, internal NHS data reveals. Data obtained by HSJ shows the total backlog of NHS patients waiting over three months for their first treatment since referral grew by 10% month-on-month, from 10,361 as of 26 June, to 11,212 by 28 August. There are now nearly 341,000 patients are waiting to start their cancer treatment after being referred, the internal data also reveals. Under current NHS rules, the 104-day point marks a “backstop” – beyond which any patient waiting longer than this for treatment should be reviewed for potential harm. The NHS has not achieved this target since 2014. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 September 2022
  8. News Article
    Record NHS waiting lists cannot be attributed to the pandemic as the health service has been “steadily declining” for a decade, a report says. The number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment in England has almost tripled from 2.5 million in April 2012 to 6.78 million, after reaching 4.6 million in February 2020. While Covid accelerated this trend, analysis suggests that even without the pandemic waiting lists for elective care would stand at 5.3 million. The Quality Watch report, by the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation think tanks, says the NHS was “already stretched beyond its limits” before Covid struck. Analysis of performance figures show waiting times for scans, A&E and cancer care have been increasing for many years amid chronic staff shortages. This deterioration means thousands of cancer patients each month face unacceptably long waits for treatment — damaging their survival chances. The report found waiting times for 15 key diagnostic tests, such as MRI or CT scans, had also rocketed. In April 2012 632,236 patients were on waiting lists for these tests. This backlog increased to one million by February 2020 before hitting 1.6 million this year. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 5 September 2022
  9. News Article
    Ongoing research underway at The University of Queensland in Australia is focusing on stopping children undergoing chemotherapy from feeling pain and other debilitating side effects. Dr Hana Starobova from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience has been awarded a Fellowship Grant from the Children’s Hospital Foundation to continue her research to relieve children from the side effects of cancer treatments. “Although children have a higher survival rate than adults following cancer treatments, they can still be suffering side-effects well into their adulthood,” Dr Starobova said. “A five-year-old cancer patient could be suffering severe pain, gastrointestinal problems or difficulty walking 20 years on from treatment. “There has been a lack of studies on children, which is an issue because they are not just small adults — they suffer from different cancers, their immune systems work differently and they have a faster metabolism, all of which affect how treatments work. “Our aim is to treat children before the damage happens so that the side-effects are dramatically reduced or don’t occur in the first place.” Dr Starobova is currently analysing how specific drugs could prevent a cascade of inflammation caused by chemotherapy drugs, which lead to tingling and numbness in hands and feet, and muscle pain and weakness that makes everyday tasks, like walking and doing up buttons, a challenge. She is focusing on Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in children, with over 700 children diagnosed in Australia each year. “We are studying the most commonly used chemotherapy treatment for children, which is a mix of drugs that are very toxic, but have to be used to treat cancer fast and stop it becoming resistant to the drugs,” Dr Starobova said. “It’s a fine balance — too little chemotherapy and cancer won’t be killed but sometimes the side effects are so bad, patients have to stop the therapy. “I hope that by having a treatment to reduce side-effects, it will be one less thing for these kids and their families to worry about.” Read full story Source: The Print, 15 August 2022
  10. News Article
    Black and Asian people in England have to wait longer for a cancer diagnosis than white people, with some forced to wait an extra six weeks, according to a “disturbing” analysis of NHS waiting times. A damning review of the world’s largest primary care database by the University of Exeter and the Guardian discovered minority ethnic patients wait longer than white patients in six of seven cancers studied. Race and health leaders have called the results “deeply concerning” and “absolutely unacceptable”. The analysis of 126,000 cancer cases over a decade found the median time between a white person first presenting symptoms to a GP and getting diagnosed is 55 days. For Asian people, it is 60 days (9% longer). For black people, it is 61 days (11% longer). Michelle Mitchell, the chief executive of Cancer Research UK, which funded the research, said that while the differences are “unlikely to be the sole explanation for the inequalities in cancer survival”, at the very least “extended wait times may cause additional stress and anxiety for ethnic minority patients”. Read full story Source: The Guardian (28 August 2022)
  11. News Article
    A woman with fast-growing stage-four breast cancer says the NHS has let her down, with delays at every stage of her treatment. Caroline Boulton, 56, had several appointments for a mammogram, which checks for early signs of cancer, cancelled because of Covid, in March and November 2020. In late 2021, she found a small lump, went to her GP and was referred urgently to a specialist - but then the delays began. "They haven't moved quickly enough," Ms Boulton says, who lives in Greater Manchester. "It's been really, really slow." "Between each appointment, each scan, there's been four-, five-, six-, seven-, eight-week waiting times and delays every time." The referral letter came through "very quickly" but then she waited three weeks, instead of the recommended two, to see a consultant. "When I first found the lump, it was only pea-sized," Ms Boulton says. "By the time I got to see the consultant, it was the size of a tangerine." Her cancer was growing quickly, she was told, but it would be eight weeks before a mastectomy could be scheduled to remove her breast. "Considering it was fast-growing, that's a huge concern - you're living with that, waiting, knowing it's growing," Ms Boulton says. When she finally saw an oncologist seven months after finding the lump, had another scan and received the results, the cancer had spread to her liver - and there was no longer any treatment they could offer. "I've now got stage-four cancer that I shouldn't have - and two years to live." Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 August 2022
  12. News Article
    Half of UK adults with a possible cancer symptom do not contact their GP within six months, despite spotting changes to their body, research suggests. A YouGov poll of 2,468 people for Cancer Research UK found that just 48% of those who had experienced a red flag symptom – including coughing up blood, unexplained weight loss and a new or unusual lump – contacted their GP within half a year. Not telling a doctor about unusual health changes or possible cancer symptoms reduces the chances of an early cancer diagnosis, leading to potentially devastating outcomes. Cancer Research UK’s chief executive Michelle Mitchell said: “Spotting cancer early is vital if more people are to survive, and the first step in that process is getting help for a possible cancer symptom. “It’s really worrying to see such a large gap in accessing services between the UK’s most and least deprived groups. “Earlier this year, the Government announced among its top priorities were improving early diagnosis of cancer and tackling health disparities. “Cancer must remain a top priority and with the upcoming Health Disparities White Paper and 10-Year Plan for England, the new Health and Social Care Secretary has a huge opportunity to transform cancer survival with a clear and strong plan that works for all.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 August 2022
  13. News Article
    A cancer sufferer who says she faced a wait of 31 hours in A&E has compared the emergency department to "a cattle market". Tracy Summerson, who had nausea and a fever, was eventually admitted to Lincoln County Hospital last week. Ms Summerson said there were more than 30 other patients who waited a similar amount of time. The hospital said despite long waits, those who needed immediate care were "able to be seen and looked after". Ms Summerson, from Scopwick near Metheringham, described the scene as "just crammed, you were like cattle in a market". Ms Summerson, who has stage four malignant melanoma, said: "There was people coming with sick bowls being sick next to you. "When you are immune-suppressed you're supposed to go in a side room out of germs way, but they needed all the rooms for consultations." The family of an 83-year-old woman also contacted the BBC to say she waited more than 40 hours in a wheelchair in her nightdress after being taken to the hospital with a suspected brain bleed. The trust added: "We continue to see an increasing demand on our urgent and emergency care services coupled with patients staying much longer in our hospitals than previously experienced." Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 August 2022
  14. News Article
    One of the NHS’s biggest hospital trusts has declared its cancer waiting list is now at an ‘unmanageable size’. Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust leaders set out the stark judgement in a paper for its July board meeting, held last week. The report said: “The 62-day [referral to treatment backlog as of 3 July] has increased for the second consecutive week to 1,055. “[The cancer patient tracking list] is getting bigger and has reached an unmanageable size. Referral rates have plateaued from March 2021 [but] treatment rates have not increased in line with PTL growth. “This points to a noisy PTL, where the hospital is extremely busy managing patients who do not have cancer.” The paper also said NHS England had recognised the trust’s 62-day cancer target needed to be delivered “in more realistic and achievable stages”. It highlighted particular concerns around a “serious” demand and capacity problem in its dermatology department which contributed to almost half of its 62-day backlog. The trust had 445 62-day RTT cancer breaches in dermatology alone in May, the latest data reported. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 July 2022
  15. News Article
    Roy Cairns, 58, was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2019. Twelve months later a tumour was found on his lung. Mr Cairns said taking part in the cancer prehab programme piloted by the Northern Ireland's South Eastern Health Trust after his second diagnosis was a "win-win", not only for himself but also his surgeons. "I think when you get that diagnosis you are left floundering and with prehab the support you get gives you focus and a little bit of control back in your life," he said. Prehabilitation (prehab) means getting ready for cancer treatment in whatever time you have before it starts. Mr Cairns is one of 175 patients referred to the programme which involves the Belfast City Council and Macmillan Cancer Support. Dr Cherith Semple said the point of the programme is to " improve people's physical well-being as much as possible before treatment and to offer emotional support at a time that can be traumatic". Dr Semple, who is a leader in clinical cancer nursing, said this new approach to getting patients fit prior to their surgery was proving a success, both in the short and long-term. She said: "We know that it can reduce a patient's hospital stay post-surgery and it can reduce your return to hospital with complications directly afterwards." Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 July 2022
  16. News Article
    Patients are at risk of a missed cancer diagnosis due to a reliance on paper records, an NHS trust has admitted after a man died due to his tumour being overlooked. Michael Lane, 50, from Shrewsbury, was “failed” by Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, his family has said after his cancer scan result was misplaced leaving him with a growing kidney tumour for 10 years. The trust is yet to fully launch an electronic record system a year after an investigation into Mr Lane’s death warned other patients were at risk due to the gap in paper records. Mr Lane went into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital for a scan following a referral for suspected cancer in 2011. The radiographer flagged a small tumour but the scan was overlooked, placed within his paper records and never reported as being a concern. In an investigation report carried out by the trust in May 2021, seen by The Independent, the hospital admitted that had his tumour been seen and operated on earlier he may have survived. The report also admitted there were ongoing risks within the trust due to gaps in its electronic records system. It said: “The implementation of an IT solution will not prevent sad cases such as that of Mr Lane where the scan report that was missed took place before the widespread availability of such systems, however, it is clear that until we have an electronic requesting and sign-off system we remain at risk of new cases of missed results and harm occurring as a result of the ongoing reliance of paper-based results.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 July 2022
  17. News Article
    More men are dying from melanoma skin cancer than women in the UK, Cancer Research UK is warning as the country's heatwave continues. Rates of the cancer, which can develop in sun-damaged skin, have been rising in both men and women in recent years. Late diagnosis may be part of the reason why men are faring worse. Melanoma is treatable if it is diagnosed early - the charity is urging people to take care in the sun and get any unusual skin changes checked. Melanoma death rates have improved for women in the last 10 years, but not for men. Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research, says the figures "drive home the importance of sun safety". "We all need to take steps to protect ourselves from the sun's harmful UV rays. Getting sunburnt just once every two years can triple your risk of skin cancer," she adds. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 July 2022
  18. News Article
    The NHS will have to cut investment in cancer care if ministers award frontline staff a pay rise above 3% but refuse to provide extra money to cover it, health service bosses have warned. The NHS England chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, and Julian Kelly, its chief financial officer, made clear their belief that soaring inflation means the service’s 1.3 million staff deserve a pay award of more than the 3% the government has already given the organisation funding to cover. But they warned that any increase above that would force it to cut services, including primary care and the planned new nationwide network of centres intended to diagnose killer diseases early – unless the Treasury covers the cost of the higher amount. If ministers do award staff more, then the 3% originally planned “we would then be looking at having to … cut back on investment in our major areas, when our major areas are primary care, cancer care, or indeed at the margin … some big capital investments. In fact we were just talking about the diagnostic centres [intended to spot cancer and other illnesses sooner]", said Kelly. “[A] pay settlement higher than 3% and no extra money would entail some really difficult decisions.” It is “not realistic” to expect the NHS to absorb any extra costs, he added. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 7 July 2022
  19. News Article
    The NHS plans to use drones to fly chemotherapy drugs to cancer patients in England to avoid the need for long journeys to collect them. The devices will transport doses from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight in a trial that, if successful, will lead to drones being used for similar drops elsewhere. They will take 30 minutes to travel acrss the Solent, which will save patients on the island a three to four-hour round trip by ferry or hovercraft. On Tuesday, Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive, unveiled the move to help mark the 74th anniversary of the health service’s creation by the postwar Labour government. “Delivering chemo by drone is another extraordinary development for cancer patients and shows how the NHS will stop at nothing to ensure people get the treatment they need as promptly as possible, while also cutting costs and carbon emissions,” she said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 July 2022
  20. News Article
    More than 10,000 people are waiting three months or longer following an urgent referral for suspected cancer, internal NHS data seen by HSJ reveals. Patients with suspected cancer are not supposed to wait more than two months from a referral. However, information shared with HSJ shows that of the 313,000 people on the national cancer waiting list, just over 10,000 had waited 104 days or more. Information about three-month cancer waits is not made public on a regular basis. NHS England publishes data for the total backlog of patients waiting over 62 days, but does not make public the regional or trust-level results, or reveal how many patients are waiting three months or more. One senior figure in cancer policy told HSJ the backlog position was “awful” and “a reflection of a worsening trajectory overwhelming diagnostic capacity in particular”. Breast, skin and lower gastro-intestinal cancers saw the biggest increases in long waiters. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 5 July 2022
  21. News Article
    The NHS is wasting time and money due to a ‘culture of overtreatment’ in cancer care, a report has revealed. An All-Party Parliamentary Group paper released on Tuesday on minimally invasive cancer treatments (MICTs) found only 10 per cent of cancer patients are offered non-invasive treatments. This is despite many of these treatments being recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). And many doctors and patients remain in the dark about some of the newer treatments due to ‘a severe lack of education’ . The APPG, which is made up of different political parties and peers, was formed to drive awareness of Minimally Invasive Cancer Therapies - proven cancer treatments that provide similar outcomes to cancer surgery but are more targeted and less invasive than traditional surgery. Paul Sayer, founder of charity Prost8, which launched its ‘ONE in EIGHT’ campaign to help men with prostate cancer get better access to minimally invasive treatment, said: “The report has identified a culture of overtreatment even when it’s not the best or safest option. Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 June 2022
  22. News Article
    When you think of cancer, a glamorous mum in her mid-30s is not the first image that springs to mind. But You, Me and the Big C podcaster Dame Deborah James was just 35 when she found out she had bowel cancer. Blood and stool tests had come back normal and her GP had laughed "not once, but three times over the course of six months" at the idea she could possibly have a tumour in her bowels. The diagnosis came only when she paid to have her colon examined privately. Her experience has raised questions about how good we are at spotting and treating cancer in the under-40s. Simply - are we failing young people with cancer? Overall, around 4.3% of cancers diagnosed in the UK are in the under-40s, while those over 75 make up more than a third of all cancer cases, which poses a challenge for us and the doctors who treat us. When we are young, we're less likely to attribute any ill health to cancer. Changes to our bowel movements could just be stress, blood in the toilet after we poo could be inflammatory bowel disease or haemorrhoids. Because, for most people, cancer is something that happens to our parents or grandparents. Your doctor should be alert to major warning signs of cancer, but there is a medical saying: "When you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras". It's a call to look for the most common or likely explanation, and the younger you are, the less likely cancer is to be behind your symptoms. This helps channel the health service's limited resources to those most likely to need them. But that means some younger people aren't being seen quickly enough, although the problem can affect older people too. Bowel Cancer UK's Never Too Young report in 2020 found that four in 10 people surveyed had to visit their GP three or more times before being referred for further tests to see if they had cancer. "I don't think GPs are a problem," says Genevieve Edwards, chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK. "It [bowel cancer] is rare in younger people... It will usually be something else." The question is - what if you are the zebra, that relatively rare case who does have cancer at a young age?" Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 May 2022
  23. News Article
    People with a worrying cough, problems swallowing or blood in their urine will soon be able to be referred for scans and checks by a pharmacist, rather than having to wait to see their GP. The new pilot scheme, in England, aims to diagnose more cancers early, when there is a better chance of a cure. High Street pharmacies will be funded to refer customers for the checks. The NHS will also send out more "roaming trucks" to perform on-the-spot scans in the community. Lung-scanner vans driven to locations, including supermarket car parks and football stadiums, have already resulted in more people having checks. Now, some liver lorries will join them. Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: "Ensuring patients can access diagnosis and treatment easily in their communities and on High Streets is a fundamental part of our 10-Year Cancer Plan." Dr Anthony Cunliffe, national clinical adviser for primary care, at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "Doctors and nurses are working tirelessly to diagnose and treat the tens of thousands of people entering a very busy cancer care system. "This pilot will give people the opportunity to access more trained professionals in their community to get symptoms investigated." Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 June 2022
  24. News Article
    Leading doctors say they have concerns about the NHS reducing mentions of the word "women" in ovarian cancer guidance. They say "it may cause confusion" and create barriers to care. But NHS Digital, which writes the online advice, said they wanted to make it relevant for everyone who needs it. The updated guidance now says that people with ovaries, such as trans men, can also be affected. Until February, the NHS guidance began by explaining ovarian cancer was "one of the most common types of cancer for women". Now, the only specific mention of women comes on the third page with the explanation that ovarian cancer can affect "women, trans men, non-binary people and intersex people with ovaries". NHS Digital said the changes were introduced to make the advice more relevant and inclusive. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which represents thousands of women's health specialists and pregnancy doctors, said the language used "does need to be appropriate, inclusive and sensitive to the needs of individuals whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth". But it added: "Limiting the term 'woman' to one mention may cause confusion and create further barriers for some women and people trying to make an informed choice about their care. "We would therefore support the use of the word 'woman' alongside inclusive language." Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 June 2022
  25. News Article
    When Jenny* had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she believed the major surgery to remove her breast, although traumatic, had saved her life. She described feeling “rage” when at a follow-up appointment three years later, she said to her surgeon, “I would probably be dead by now” if she had not received the surgery, to which he replied: “Probably not.” It was only then, after she had already undergone invasive and life-changing treatment, that Jenny learned about “overdiagnosis”. While breast cancer screening programs are essential and save lives, sometimes they also detect lumps that may never go on to cause harm in a woman’s lifetime, leading to overtreatment, and psychological and financial suffering. Jenny is 1 of 12 women from the UK, US, Canada and Australia whose stories were published in the medical journal BMJ Open. It is the first study to interview breast cancer patients who believe they may have received unnecessary and harmful treatment, highlighting the effect this has had on their lives. “The usual story of breast cancer screening is ‘screening saves lives’,” an author of the study and a professor of public health at the University of Sydney in Australia, Alexandra Barratt, said. “This study reports the other side of the story – how breast cancer screening can cause harm through overdiagnosis and overtreatment.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2022
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