MP supports call to help improve breast cancer survival rates

Jim Dobbin MP

Heywood and Middleton MP Jim Dobbin has met with Christine Abbott and Mal McColl from Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s Campaigns and Advocacy Network (CAN) to discuss how to improve breast cancer survival rates.

Mr Dobbin has also signed Breakthrough’s Bridging the Gap in Breast Cancer Survival Charter, which outlines the commitments needed to make sure more women survive breast cancer.  

Nearly 48,000 women and 300 men are diagnosed with the disease each year, making it the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK. Even though more women are surviving breast cancer than ever before thanks to better awareness, screening and treatments, survival in England still lags behind some other European countries.  If England was to achieve survival rates at the European best for breast cancer, an estimated 1,000 lives could be saved each year.

In response to this challenge, Breakthrough Breast Cancer developed the Bridging the Gap in Breast Cancer Survival Charter and believes that the Government can tackle this issue by supporting its key principles; promoting breast awareness messages to help drive early diagnosis, providing access for all eligible women to gold standard NHS Breast Screening Programmes and maximising the potential of breast cancer research, to create personalised or targeted treatments.

Mr Dobbin said: “We have the opportunity to make effective change that can save lives.   It is clear that by following these principles, we give ourselves the best possible chance to match our European counterparts’ breast cancer survival rates and make a real difference.”

Chris Askew, Chief Executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “Breast cancer knows no political, social or demographic boundaries – it has the ability to affect everyone.  That’s why more needs to be done to bridge the gap in breast cancer survival rates.”