Study predicts overall economic cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke will rise by 61%
The cost of England’s four biggest killer diseases could rise to £86bn a year by 2050, prompting calls for a crackdown on alcohol, junk food and smoking.
The ageing population means the annual cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke combined will go from the £51.9bn recorded in 2018 to £85.6bn in 2050 – a rise of 61%.
Continue reading...Research suggests at-home tests could encourage 400,000 more women a year to have a screening
Women could be offered DIY cervical screening tests on the NHS, after research found self-testing at home significantly improved screening rates.
Researchers calculated that being able to take their sample at home could encourage about 400,000 more women a year to have a cervical screening.
Continue reading...Movember says British men have worse health than comparable countries and suffer stark regional inequalities
More than 133,000 men die early every year in the UK, equating to 15 every hour, according to a report calling for urgent action to improve men’s health.
Two in five men are dying prematurely, before the age of 75 and often from entirely avoidable health conditions, research by the charity Movember found.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...England’s patient safety commissioner says NHS patients raising concerns are dismissed as ‘difficult women’
England’s patient safety commissioner, Henrietta Hughes, has warned that NHS patients raising concerns are too often “gaslighted”, “fobbed off” or dismissed as “difficult women”.
“It shows a very dismissive and very old fashioned, patronising attitude to patients who have identified problems and need to have their voices heard,” she said.
Continue reading...Health service is at tipping point, say experts, and ‘novel solutions’ have been wrongly hyped
The NHS must concentrate on the basics of cancer treatment rather than the “magic bullets” of novel technologies and artificial intelligence, or risk the health of thousands of patients, experts have warned.
In a paper published in the journal Lancet Oncology, nine leading cancer doctors and academics say the NHS is at a tipping point in cancer care with survival rates lagging behind many other developed countries.
Continue reading...Music teacher Nathaniel Dye, 38, who had spoken about delays for treatment, gave update on Tuesday
A man who had a terminal cancer diagnosis, and who described Labour as “the party of hope for a brighter future I won’t live to see” at the party’s manifesto launch, is now cancer-free.
Nathaniel Dye, a 38-year-old music teacher, was diagnosed with stage four incurable bowel cancer in October 2022, and tumours were understood to have spread to his lungs, liver and lymph nodes.
Continue reading...NHS England says its ambition to wipe disease out by 2040 relies on more under-50s coming forward
Women have been urged by NHS officials to attend cervical screenings after figures showed a third of those under 50 do not take up their invitation.
Each year, about 3,200 women in the UK are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 850 die from it. It is the 14th most common cancer affecting women in Britain, with women aged 30 to 34 most likely to be diagnosed with it.
Continue reading...Studies sound alarm at state of cancer care with hundreds of thousands waiting months to start essential treatment
Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to wait months to start essential cancer treatment, with deadly delays now “routine” and even children struck by the disease denied vital support, according to a series of damning reports.
Health chiefs, charities and doctors have sounded the alarm over the state of cancer care in the UK as three separate studies painted a shocking picture of long waits and NHS staff being severely hampered by a worsening workforce crisis and a chronic lack of equipment.
Continue reading...Jonas Brothers star revealed he has had surgery for basal cell carcinoma, advising followers to get moles checked
Pop singer Kevin Jonas, a member of chart-topping trio the Jonas Brothers, has received treatment for skin cancer.
In an Instagram video, the 36-year-old singer, guitarist, actor and reality TV star said he had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma.
Continue reading...Experts say fluorescent dye, which spotlights tiny cancerous tissue invisible to naked eye, could reduce risk of cancer returning
Scientists have developed a glowing dye that sticks to cancer cells and gives surgeons a “second pair of eyes” to remove them in real time and permanently eradicate the disease. Experts say the breakthrough could reduce the risk of cancer coming back and prevent debilitating side-effects.
The fluorescent dye spotlights tiny cancerous tissue that cannot be seen by the naked eye, enabling surgeons to remove every last cancer cell while preserving healthy tissue. That could mean fewer life-changing side effects after surgery.
Continue reading...Latest study shows Enhertu, rejected by Nice, can stall growth of tumours by a year, longer than standard chemotherapy
Thousands of women with advanced breast cancer in England and Wales are being denied a drug that cuts the risk of the disease spreading by more than a third.
Enhertu has been rolled out to patients with HER2-low breast cancer in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has rejected it for patients in England. Women in Wales are also being denied the drug.
Continue reading...More than half of patients with advanced forms of disease who took lorlatinib were still alive after five years with no progression
Doctors are hailing “off the chart” trial results that show a new drug stopped lung cancer advancing for longer than any other treatment in medical history.
Lung cancer is the world’s leading cause of cancer death, accounting for about 1.8m deaths every year. Survival rates in those with advanced forms of the disease, where tumours have spread, are particularly poor.
Continue reading...Liberal senator, and former political staffer expected to attempt again to resolve a pair of high-profile defamation cases. Follow today’s news headlines live
A High Court decision in Britain to allow Julian Assange to appeal his extradition to the US is a “small win” for the WikiLeaks founder but he should be freed now, the union for Australia’s journalists says.
As AAP reports, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance remains concerned there is no certainty an appeal will be successful, which would mean Assange could still be tried for espionage in the US.
Tonight’s decision by the High Court is a small win for Julian Assange and for the cause of media freedom worldwide.
MEAA welcomes the decision of the High Court, but we remain concerned that there is no guarantee of success.
We call on the Australian government to keep up the pressure on the US to drop the charges so Julian Assange can be reunited with his family.
Continue reading...Withdrawal agreement means Graham Beresford is eligible for free treatment but Italian authorities have said he must pay
A British man settled in Italy who has a rare cancer has been unable to receive the free healthcare he is entitled to because local officials do not understand the Brexit withdrawal agreement, he has said.
Graham Beresford, 61, has spoken out days before the foreign secretary, David Cameron, who triggered the Brexit referendum, has his first major meeting with the European commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels about post-Brexit relations.
Continue reading...Accessible screening tool piloted by NHS England includes braille instructions and a better guide for stool sample
Thousands of blind or partly sighted people could find it easier to participate in bowel cancer screening from home owing to a new NHS tool aiding accessibility.
The standard test used to screen for bowel cancer requires an at-home stool sample in a tube, which is sent off and examined for any possible cancer signs.
Continue reading...Transform project has potential to reduce deaths from the disease by 40%, savings thousands of lives a year in UK
Methods of screening men for prostate cancer will be trialled in an attempt to save thousands of lives in the UK each year, in what has been hailed as a “pivotal moment” by experts.
The £42m project, known as Transform, will compare various screening methods to current NHS diagnostic processes, which can include blood tests, physical examinations and biopsies.
Continue reading...Exclusive: analysis shows increase of a third in two years, prompting claim of ‘deprioritising women’s health’
The government has been accused of “deprioritising women’s health” as analysis shows that almost 600,000 women in England are waiting for gynaecological treatment, an increase of a third over two years.
There are 33,000 women waiting more than a year for such treatment, an increase of 43%, according to Labour analysis of data from the House of Commons library.
Continue reading...Cambridge scientists critique research that concluded the disease is no longer a threat to the species’ survival
Cambridge researchers have challenged a previous study which had concluded a facial cancer that devastated the Tasmanian devil population was on the decline.
Devil facial tumour disease, a fatal cancer spread through biting and sharing of food, first emerged in the 1980s. The spread of DFTD led to the species being listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2008.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Tactics include proposals to raise smoking age to avoid outright ban, and exemptions for cigars, says Cancer Research UK chief
Tobacco firms are lobbying MPs and peers in an effort to derail Rishi Sunak’s flagship policy to phase out smoking, the head of Britain’s biggest cancer charity has said.
The prime minister’s landmark legislation – which would bar anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes and make England the first country in the world to ban smoking – is due to be debated in parliament for the first time on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Isolation and lack of health insurance also correlate to reduced mammogram rates for breast cancer
Women who are low-income, socially isolated and lack health insurance are far less likely to be up-to-date on mammograms, a breast cancer screening tool experts said is critical to reducing breast cancer deaths, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer to afflict American women, and kills an estimated 40,000 Americans each year. Cancer overall kills 605,000 Americans a year and is the second-leading cause of death, a toll the Biden administration aims to reduce through a Cancer Moonshot initiative.
Continue reading...