Donna Dunn from Cwmbran, Torfaen, lost her 18-year-old daughter Emily to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, also known as external blood cancer, due to the side effects of treatment. Emily’s death highlighted the shortcoming and “huge holes” in blood cancer support in Wales and the poor awareness and understanding of what it is, even though there are 100 different types of blood cancer, including lymphoma, leukaemia, and myeloma, which is the UK’s third biggest cancer killer, killing 16,000 people annually. Blood Cancer UK stated that despite the number of deaths, the UK has the worst survival rates among all comparable nations for every type of blood cancer, yet Wales’s patient care lags “well behind other centres in England.”
Cancer is one of the NHS’s top planning priorities, said the Welsh government, which is spending £2m on a national programme to deal with waiting times. Nevertheless, Dr Ceri Bygrave, a consultant haematologist at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales, identified the major issues of a collapsing NHS infrastructure, bad IT systems, and a workforce that is ageing, understaffed, and overstretched, putting complex treatments under “major pressure” in Wales.
A non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer that develops in the lymphatic system. Blood cancer occurs when white blood cells called lymphocytes, which form part of your immune system, become abnormal and multiply uncontrollably, losing their ability to fight infections. The most common symptom is a painless swelling in a lymph node in the neck, armpit, or groin.
To improve survival rates, Blood Cancer UK has issued action plans to establish early diagnosis initiatives, reduce access barriers to care, and improve access to treatments. There is also a need to increase the number of blood cancer clinical nurse specialists and encourage more clinicians to embark on blood cancer research, Dr Bygrave stated. Moreover, a patient’s survival chances remain heavily influenced by their social background and residence. Blood Cancer UK’s chief executive, Helen Rowntree, is confident that addressing such issues will enable Wales and the UK as a whole to become leaders in blood cancer treatment, regardless of people’s circumstances or location.
The Welsh government assured the public that it had increased the haematology workforce by 20% consultant and 56% specialty and associate specialist doctors over the past decade and invested heavily in cancer services, both in new equipment and facilities. By 2032, 74% of permanent haematology consultants in Wales would turn 60, creating a shortfall in trained persons to replace them, Dr Bygrave warned. Improving healthcare infrastructure and eliminating IT disadvantages in Wales are crucial to the proper care of blood cancer patients, Dr Bygrave said
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