Breast cancer care quality threatened by lack of specialist nurses

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/07/breast-cancer-care-quality-lack-specialist-nurses

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A shortage of specialist nurses to help people with breast cancer is threatening the quality of care, a charity has said.

A near 20% rise in newly diagnosed cases in England over the last decade has not been matched by increases in nurses, according to Breast Cancer Care.

While new cases of the cancer rose from 38,153 in 2003 to 44,831 in 2013, the number of breast cancer nurses had remained the same at 434 since records started in 2007, it said.

The widening gap in specialist care was increasing pressure on workloads and this would increase as the number of those living with breast cancer in the UK as a whole was set to double from 691,000 to 1.7m by 2040.

Samia al Qadhi, the charity’s chief executive, welcomed the recent recommendation from the independent cancer taskforce for England that every cancer patient should have access to a specialist nurse. “We know that NHS England’s budgets are tight, but as the number of breast cancer cases rises, action is needed to address this now.”

Breast Cancer Care, citing statistics from the Office for National Statistics, said the rise in new cases was 18% in England, while other figures from the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit and ISD Scotland cancer statistics showed a 21% rise over the same period in Wales and 20% in Scotland.

A report from another charity, Target Ovarian Cancer, said that older women with the disease were significantly less likely to be offered life-saving surgery than younger women.

It highlighted figures from the National Cancer Intelligence Network that suggested 81% of women aged 15-54 with ovarian cancer underwent surgery, while only 52% of those over 55 had an operation.

The charity’s chief executive, Annwen Jones, called the difference “incredibly worrying”. She added: “It’s vital that all women with ovarian cancer are able to [get] the best possible care and treatments to give them every chance of beating this devastating disease.”

NHS England said decisions on numbers of posts available for breast cancer nurses were the responsibility of individual hospitals, and overall hospital nurse staffing levels had been rising.

It was working with partners such as Health Education England to plan for future workforce needs, and to implement the taskforce strategy. “In the meantime, it’s great news that breast cancer survival rates are now the highest they have ever been.”

As to the disparities in surgery for ovarian cancer, NHS England said: “Cancer treatment should always be based on what is right for each patient, not their age.

“The independent cancer taskforce report included a specific recommendation to improve outcomes for older patients, and we are working with others across the health system to take this forward as quickly as possible.”