County Durham charity calls for urgent action to help cancer patients
The Government's being warned it's inherited a "ticking time bomb" on care
A County Durham charity is calling for urgent action to help stop people losing their lives to cancer.
It comes as the Government is being warned it has inherited a 'ticking time bomb' on care as it is urged to create a plan to deal with it.
Experts are arguing that UK waiting lists are "the worst they've ever been."
Allison White is the founder of the Great Aycliffe Cancer Support Group. She is in remission after having leukaemia herself and said: "We need something to happen. Certainly for the last sort of 12-months, a bit longer actually, certainly since Covid at least, there's been huge delays of treatments still but also there's that many people getting diagnosed now as well they can't cope with it.
"I went to see a new patient who's incurable and they're not getting to know what's happening until the 6th of September. It's a long time when you're terminally ill. Getting diagnosed is hard enough but getting told you have to wait another few more weeks to be able to see the consultant, time is of an essence.
"For starters you've got the GP surgeries so there's your problem straight away with the delays. I've had people go with lumps getting told they have to wait weeks to get seen and it's like 'hello? it could be cancer.' You see the adverts saying 'if you find a lump get it checked out', well they go to get it checked out and they get told they can't get an appointment.
"There's that many people are getting diagnosed now. I mean we've seen a huge increase and it's very worrying really but obviously from that, the Government needs to learn that they need to do something straight away as soon as possible because people are losing their lives and it's sad. Delays and stuff is so upsetting and frustrating."