Liz McInnes shows support for people living with incurable secondary breast cancer

Liz McInnes MP with Emma from Breast Cancer Care

Liz McInnes, Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton, has pledged her support for the Breast Cancer Care charity’s campaign to ensure people with incurable secondary breast cancer no longer get second-rate care.

Last week Liz met with Breast Cancer Care in Parliament to hear more about the campaign and offer her backing.

A survey of people with incurable breast cancer by Breast Cancer Care revealed just over a fifth (21%) of people who previously had breast cancer are first treated by their GP for another condition, and more than four in 10 (42%) do not feel their overall care is well-managed and well-coordinated. This suggests people living with incurable breast cancer are not getting the care and support they need.

In addition, a report from the charity reveals that, despite it being mandatory since 2013, a fifth (19%) of Hospital Trusts are not collecting any data about the number of people diagnosed with incurable breast cancer. And almost half (47%) are not recording the numbers fully.

Breast Cancer Care believes incomplete data for the number of people with incurable breast cancer is one of the major barriers to urgently needed improvements to poor care.

Breast Cancer Care’s parliamentary event was hosted by Sharon Hodgson MP, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Breast Cancer and new Shadow Public Health Minister.

Ms McInnes said: "It is so important to show our support for women living with incurable secondary breast cancer. It is absolutely vital that people with incurable breast cancer are not forgotten. It must be made a priority that everyone diagnosed and living with the disease is counted.

"I am calling on the Government to do more to support women and men affected by incurable breast cancer and make vital improvements to care. When time is uncertain, women with secondary breast cancer need to be certain of our support, and I encourage people to visit breastcancercare.org.uk/secondary for more information about this vital campaign."

Danni Manzi, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Breast Cancer Care, said: "We are extremely grateful to Liz for joining us to show her support for our ‘Secondary. Not second rate.’ campaign, improving care for incurable secondary breast cancer patients. There are still gaps in care for people with incurable breast cancer and consistent data collection is essential to enable crucial services and support to be planned effectively for people living with the disease.

"We are calling on the Government, Public Health England and NHS England to do all they can to ensure everyone with incurable breast cancer gets the best care possible."