Borough MP calls for faster treatment for pancreatic cancer

An MP in the borough has pledged her support to a charity campaigning for faster treatment for the UK's quickest-killing cancer.
MP Yvonne Fovargue wants faster treatment for pancreatic cancerMP Yvonne Fovargue wants faster treatment for pancreatic cancer
MP Yvonne Fovargue wants faster treatment for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic Cancer UK says patients with the disease need to get medical help quicker as one in four people die within a month of diagnosis.

Other news: Borough gets extra £1.7m for road repairsMakerfield MP Yvonne Fovargue has given her full backing to the charity’s call and has written to the health secretary about the issue.

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She says 35 people in the borough are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year and only a handful will survive for more than five years, a situation Ms Fovargue describes as “unacceptable”.

Ms Fovargue said: “Much more needs to be done to improve the outcomes for people with this deadly disease.”

Pancreatic Cancer UK wants the Government and devolved assemblies to set a new target for treatment to begin for everyone who has the disease within 20 days of diagnosis by 2024.

A report released by the charity shows patients who have surgery are 10 times more likely to live or five years or longer.

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However, at least 90 per cent of all pancreatic cancer patients have no surgery at all, with the rate in Greater Manchester being just 10.5 per cent.

A total of 57 per cent of England’s pancreatic cancer patients with stage one or stage two of the disease each year will not get to the operating theatre, despite many of them being eligible for potentially life-saving or extending treatment,

Pancreatic Cancer UK wants accelerated models of treatment, similar to those which exist for breast and prostate cancer, to be introduced for the disease.

This includes setting up one-stop clinics and recruiting specialist nurses.