Adding Life to Years
Pete Wheatstone, member of our Patient-Public Group, reports back from the recent Britain Against Cancer Conference.
It was an early start on the 4th November to get down to London for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer (APPGC) Conference in London ‘Britain Against Cancer 2018: Future Priorities for Cancer Care and Support’. Unfortunately, my journey was not helped by the first hard frost of the winter season requiring a 15 minute ice scraping session, the station car park ticket machines all appearing to be out of order and the train running late. However, I did have time to notice that both the Moon and Venus were shining brightly in the clear early morning sky.
I was doing well to arrive only 10 minutes into the first speech by Nic Dakin MP Chair of the APPGC who welcomed delegates to Britain Against Cancer 2018. He reminded delegates that however far we have come (in the progress against cancer) the UK still lags behind its European counterparts when it comes to the best survival rates for cancer and we must continue to strive to match the best outcomes in Europe. With a new long-term NHS plan being published in the coming days, and this year being the 70th anniversary of our NHS, he said that it really is a pivotal moment for cancer care in the UK. This was followed by Baroness Joan Walmsley and Shadow Health Minister Jon Ashworth looking at how best we can meet the challenges ahead.
Nick Robinson
For me, one of the highlights of the conference was Nick Robinson (BBC Radio 4, former BBC/ITV Political Editor) who spoke first about his lung cancer and the concerns he had about the impact of cancer on his voice and career. He went on to chair a panel discussion with consummate ease. The panel’s responses to questions from the audience were very good and he asked the follow up questions that many of us in the audience were thinking of. Macmillan Cancer Support CEO Lynda Thomas said “it’s time to move the focus of cancer care beyond simply adding years to life and to ‘add life to years’” – a sentiment that many of us patients would strongly agree with.
Lunch followed with opportunities to visit the 17 stands and talk to the folks behind them. I met the co-chair of our Patient-Public Group Azmina Verjee at the Medical Detection Dogs stand (I thought she was a cat person!) and then joined John Marsh, a fellow member of the BCI UK Patient-Public Group, at the food table. There was just time for a quick filming session at the use My data/Cancer 52 stand before rushing off with Mr Marsh to grab the last available portions of apple crumble and custard!
The afternoon schedule was disrupted by the Health Secretary Matt Hancock delayed and eventual non-appearance apparently because of problems in parliament with Netflix or something that sounded like that! However, the Patient Representative slot had Anita Brown who told us all what it was like to have terminal bladder cancer. This was probably the highlight of the day both in terms of speech content but also the style of delivery. The extended applause at the end of her speech was richly deserved. There were two further speeches, one by Cally Palmer who is the National Cancer Director for NHS England (amongst many other jobs that she has) and then closing remarks.
I had plenty of time on the way home to consider the day’s events, what I got out of it and whether I would attend again. Well, I came away feeling reassured that the speakers were in tune with the feelings at grass roots level and that they have been listening to everyone’s representations. Would I attend again? Despite the long day, the answer was a definite ‘Yes’!