Childhood Cancer Outcomes

Debate between Carla Lockhart and Emma Lewell-Buck

Tuesday 17th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that very kind intervention. He has pre-empted what I will talk about later in my speech.

The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the hon. Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), in responding to the debate last year, said that GPs had access to training and that National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

“guidelines are trying to support GPs”.—[Official Report, 26 April 2022; Vol. 712, c. 656.]

However, having access to training is not the same as mandated training, and NICE guidelines are for all cancers. It is widely known that many signs and symptoms of childhood cancer are the same as those for many common childhood illnesses, and that the types of cancer diagnosed in children are different from those seen in adults. In short, those guidelines are not enough.

The Under-Secretary of State also said that, despite some progress in treatment for childhood cancers, for

“conditions, such as rhabdomyosarcoma, that is not yet the case. Research is crucial to how we deal with it in the long term.”—[Official Report, 26 April 2022; Vol. 712, c. 658.]

Yet no breakdown is available for how much funding is directly linked to childhood cancer research, let alone RMS. What we do know is that funding for research of all cancers has dropped from £132 million in 2018-19 to £101 million in 2021-22, and that Great Ormond Street hospital has found that, on average, only 2p of every £1 spent each year on cancer research goes towards dedicated research projects for childhood cancers.

So here we are, over a year later, and it appears that nothing has improved. The Government’s change in approach to their cancer plan has not been welcome either. In February 2022, the Government launched their call for evidence for a standalone 10-year cancer plan for England, which was intended to be a new vision for how we will lead the world in cancer care. Yet in January this year, they announced that cancer would be incorporated into a new major conditions strategy, effectively scrapping the dedicated 10-year cancer plan. As Cancer Research UK said:

“by bundling in cancer alongside other conditions via a short-term strategy, ministers will fail to give cancer the due care and attention it requires… Cancer isn’t a single disease…in medicine it’s one of the hardest problems to solve and scientific discovery takes time… Ultimately, beating cancer requires a long-term approach.”

The Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group and Young Lives vs Cancer rightly note that this strategy will not give sufficient attention to children with cancer, and are asking the Government to commit to a children and young people’s 10-year cancer plan addressing diagnosis, treatment, patient experience, research, psychosocial support and living beyond cancer. The Royal College of Radiologists, which represents specialist paediatric radiologists and clinical oncologists, has said that after years of under-investment, the workforce is stretched and shortages are causing backlog and delay.

Access to paediatric radiologists already depends on postcode. In the north-east, there are 0.2 consultants per 100,000 people, compared with 0.7 per 100,000 in London. It takes seven years to train in this specialty, and as a percentage of specialists are due to retire, I am not sure that the Government’s workforce plan will sufficiently address the shortfall in those paediatric specialties. International comparisons show that the countries with the biggest improvements in cancer survival are those with long-term, adequately funded cancer plans. Every single parent who has lived in this painful cancer bubble knows what works, too: proper training, early diagnosis, research and access to treatment.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady for her speech. Ethan really sounds like an amazing little boy whose memory will live on, as we have heard tonight. He reminds me of a little boy called Adam in my constituency, who will also be forever in our memory after losing his battle to childhood cancer. His mum and dad, Sara and David, are fighting not only for what the hon. Lady is fighting for, but for financial support for families in the initial weeks after diagnosis—currently, children have to wait three months to receive disability living allowance. Does she not think that the Government should introduce immediate payment for families whose children’s care needs start immediately?

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

I thank the hon. Member for her intervention. My heart goes out to her constituents, and I could not agree more with what she suggests.

This remarkable little boy had his future taken from him, and without a robust and long-term plan from the Government, other children’s lives will be lost to this terrible disease. I know that the Minister is a decent man and that he does care and will want to give some words of comfort to my constituents, but we would like to know from him what progress, if any, has been made since last year’s debate and how, against the backdrop of decreased funding for research, a dwindling workforce and limited training, he believes cancer outcomes for children will improve. As Ethan’s parents said,

“We shouldn’t be putting children through this… Children deserve to be invested in, they deserve a future”.

I am sure we can all agree that little Ethan definitely did deserve a future.