Brain tumour patients and carers join mass lobby of Parliament
Patients and carers are heading to Parliament today to ask MPs to help raise awareness about brain tumours and to use their position in Parliament to get the Government to do more in the fight against them.
Around 200 patients, carers, scientists and doctors will join the mass lobby, organised by the Brain Tumour Consortium of which Brain Tumour UK is a founding member. They will tell MPs that brain tumours are not getting the priority they deserve and that government policy should reflect the fact that:
- Brain tumours kill more children and more people under 40 than any other cancer;
- Brain tumours reduce life expectancy by over 21 years on average - more than breast, colon, lung, prostrate, cervix, ovary, melanoma, leukaemia, Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, kidney, pancreas, oesophagus, stomach, uterus, myeloma, and bladder cancers.
- 8,600 primary brain tumours are registered in the UK every year but many go unrecorded. Research by the brain tumour charities suggests the true figure is closer to 16,000, but that 32,000 people develop secondary brain tumours in the UK every year which go unrecorded.
- Unlike many other cancers survival rates for brain tumours have not significantly improved in the UK for over 40 years and despite the prevalence and high mortality of brain tumours the issue is not currently given the resources or focus they deserve
- Brain Tumours receive just 0.7% of funds allocated to cancer research;
- Best practice guidance introduced by NICE in 2006 still has not been implemented across the country;
- Diagnosis of brain tumours is often delayed with the median time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis being 3.3 months in the UK, compared to 5 weeks in comparable countries like Poland and the US.
Jenny Baker OBE, Chief Executive of Brain Tumour UK said: “We are calling on MPs not to forget brain tumours and to do what they can to ensure that a fairer, more proportionate amount of research spend is devoted to brain tumour research, that under the new NHS structures NICE’s best practice guidance is finally implemented and that health workers are given the support they need to make prompt, accurate diagnosis of brain tumours. It is only by making advances in all three of these areas that outcomes for people with brain tumours will start to improve. The first step in doing this is to get MPs and Government to understand just how many people are affected by brain tumours.”
Today the lobby is not necessarily asking for more Government money. What is needed is a better understanding of the severity and incidence rate of brain tumours so that existing resources are allocated more fairly and effectively.
As a first step, MPs are being encouraged to improve awareness about brain tumours by pledging to sign an Early Day Motion, signing an e-petition, and to do more to promote awareness of brain tumours in their constituencies and to participate in meetings of the All Party Brain Tumour Group.
