‘I had to make six-hour round trips for cancer care due to NHS postcode lottery’

Cancer patients are turning down vital tests and treatment because of travel times in a postcode lottery of care, a leading charity has warned.

Macmillan Cancer Support said an estimated four in 10 people with cancer have struggled to access care because of where they live, putting 100,000 lives at risk.

Too many patients feel they need to be “in the right place, at the right time”, the charity added, as it called for “urgent action” to make access fair.

A YouGov survey conducted for Macmillan asked 2,002 UK adults with a cancer diagnosis if they had to travel an hour or more for tests, scans or treatment, or had to repeatedly request specific tests not available in their local area.

Patients were also asked if they chose to travel to another hospital for a shorter waiting time or better treatment option.

Some 40 per cent of people who responded selected one or more of these options, which Macmillan said represents almost 1.4 million of the 3.4 million people with cancer in the UK.

More than a third (36 per cent) of patients said they had to travel for an hour or more for a test or scan, or for treatment. About 3 per cent reported that they had turned down tests or treatments because of travel time, which Macmillan said could equate to 100,000 lives at risk.

‘Things would have been so different without mum’

Daisy, who lives in a village near Holyhead, in north-west Wales, was 17 when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February. She had to make a four to six-hour round trip to a specialist centre in Liverpool for care as her treatment could not take place in North Wales due to her age.

“Whilst the support I got in Liverpool was fantastic, things would have been so different if I didn’t have my mum, who eventually had to stop work for a while to do everything and support me through my treatment,” she said

“It was really energy and time consuming and cost intensive, as well as difficult to navigate around school and my mum’s work. Once you’re having chemo, you’re meant to avoid public transport, so we were doing everything by car.

“Sometimes we would be making the trip from Anglesey to Liverpool and back as many as three times a week – feeling sick in the car, worried if I would get ill at home, worried about infections or reactions to my treatment, and worried that if anything did go wrong, the only option I might have would be go to my local A&E, which could mean long waiting times.”

Daisy told The i Paper her impression of the geographical differences in the NHS has changed.

“The care was fantastic across the board and I’m so grateful for it, but it felt like there was a real difference in investment between NHS England and Wales, as the NHS services in England seemed to be much better funded,” she said.

Dr Anthony Cunliffe, Macmillan’s lead medical adviser, said: “As a GP, the fact that where you live can have such a huge impact on your cancer experience really does worry me. But the reality is that for too many people with cancer it has begun to feel like a game of chance – a ‘flip of a coin’ and a need to be ‘in the right place, at the right time’ – when it comes to getting the treatment and care they need.

“We need to see urgent action taken to make cancer care fair. Everyone with cancer should get the best possible care the UK has to offer.”

Food on the table or fuel in the car

Separate research by Young Lives vs Cancer found families were travelling an average 80 miles to and from hospital each time they had an appointment – but in some areas this was more than 100 miles, and this cost on average £250 per month.

The charity’s chief executive Rachel Kirby-Rider said: “Some families are having to make unimaginable decisions such as whether to put food on the table or fuel in the car. One in 10 young people and families say they missed or delayed their treatment because they couldn’t afford to get there. That isn’t right.

“This is why we are calling for a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund to ensure children and young people get to the treatment they need, without struggling with the cost of getting there. We hope the upcoming national cancer plan will help address this critical issue.”

The latest NHS England data for June shows 76.8 per cent of patients in England urgently referred for suspected cancer were diagnosed or had it ruled out within 28 days, up from 74.8 per cent in May.

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The proportion of patients who had waited no longer than 62 days from an urgent suspected cancer referral, or consultant upgrade, to their first definitive treatment for cancer, was 67.1 per cent, down slightly from 67.8 per cent in May.

The Government and NHS England have set a target of March 2026 for this figure to reach 75 per cent.

Additional analysis of NHS data by Macmillan suggests around 60,000 more people in the UK would have started treatment on time last year if cancer waiting times where they live matched the same as the best performing areas. This comprises 53,968 people in England, 3,908 in Scotland, 2,013 in Wales and 291 people in Northern Ireland.

Dr Cunliffe said: “Everyone should get the treatment that is right for them. No one should get left behind simply because of where they live.”

An NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS is seeing and treating more people with cancer than ever before, survival rates have never been higher, and we have delivered the first increase in early diagnosis of the disease in over a decade.

“But we know patients’ experience can vary, and we are working closely with government on the National Cancer Plan to ensure everyone gets the highest possible standard of care, no matter where they live.”