Rarer Cancers Forum

10.19.00am GMT Tue 16th Mar 2010

RCF have written to parliamentary candidates urging us to support their 12 point plan, "Towards the best in Europe", a copy of which is on their website at www.rarercancers.org.uk

Up to 50 per cent of all cancer cases could be classified as 'rarer' as they fall outside the more common and well-known cancers. This means that up to 122,500 people will be diagnosed with a rarer form of cancer in England every year.

Whilst there has been progress in improving rarer cancer care in recent years - often as a result of support from parliamentarians - there are still significant challenges:

· Up to 16,000 patients every year are still being denied routine access to treatments which their clinician feels could extend their life

· In the last three years over 3,000 patients have been forced to apply for funding from their local PCT, simply because their cancer is extremely rare and therefore no licensed treatments are available. Over 1,000 have had their requests rejected

· Patients are still being subjected to confusing, opaque and distressing processes for determining whether their treatment will be funded

· Access to tailored information and clinical nurse specialists for rarer cancers is still patchy

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In response to their request I've been happy to give support for what is clearly a worthwhile and valuable project to raise awareness and treatment levels for people afflicted with the less common forms of cancer.