Your voice is helping us make change
Friday 27 September 2024
Over 700 of you answered our recent survey on bowel cancer diagnosis, treatment, and care. We wanted to better understand our community’s experience of bowel cancer and identify areas for improvement to build into our influencing work.
Your answers tell a story that we see echoed in the recently published report from Lord Darzi into the state of the NHS — that bowel cancer services need to improve from diagnosis to treatment, and beyond.
What you told us
We asked you to share the experiences of your or your loved ones to shine a light on any issues you’ve faced.
- 72% of respondents said that a part of bowel cancer diagnosis, treatment and care on the NHS could be improved
- Only 42% felt “very satisfied” with the treatment and care received for bowel cancer on the NHS
- Almost half (48%) of respondents said “Support from GP practice” is an area that needs to be improved
- “Diagnostic tests” (46%) and “Living with and beyond bowel cancer” (44%) are two other areas you say need improvement
What you’ve told us about your experience reflects what the evidence and data is showing about bowel cancer services. Waiting lists for key bowel cancer tests are too long, early diagnosis of bowel cancer remains stubbornly stagnant, and patients want better support and information during their treatment.
What else we’re hearing
Earlier this month, Lord Darzi’s Independent Investigation of the NHS in England was published. This was commissioned shortly after the July 2024 General Election and will inform the government’s upcoming 10-Year Plan for reforming the health service in England, due to be published in Spring 2025.
It provided a comprehensive analysis of the problems facing the NHS and evaluated patient access to healthcare. The report highlighted that the delays in diagnosis and treatment of cancer is contributing to poor cancer survival rates, in comparison to other countries.
We submitted evidence on the state of bowel cancer services to help inform the review. We emphasised the slow progress in increasing early diagnosis of bowel cancer, the large proportion of cases diagnosed as an emergency and the fact that the 62-day waiting time target for bowel cancer haven’t been met since 2015.
What’s next?
To make the changes that are needed to bowel cancer services, politicians must understand what the problems are and what the solutions could be. We’re going to be able to use the findings from this survey to demonstrate what changes need to be made to save lives and improve the quality of life of everyone affected by bowel cancer. There are different ways we’ll be doing this, including:
- 10-Year Plan: We'll be influencing the development of the government’s 10-Year Plan for reforming the health service, reflecting your experiences and working hard to ensure the new plan helps address and improve bowel cancer diagnosis, treatment and care.
- Engaging with MPs: we’re currently contacting individual Members of Parliament (MPs) who we believe can be strong champions for our cause in Westminster. Connecting with these MPs is helped by your voices — they bring the issues into reality.
- Working across the UK: The Lord Darzi report only covers the NHS in England but we’ll be using your responses throughout our work across the UK. We’ll use them to work with politicians to improve plans and services affecting you in all four nations, so the issues faced by bowel cancer patients are reflected in national plans.
Thank you
We want to say a big thank you for sharing your valuable experience of bowel cancer diagnosis, treatment, and care. Thanks to the issues you’ve highlighted, you’ve helped inform our influencing work and put your voice at the forefront of it.
- Find out more about our campaigning work
- Read real life stories from people affected by bowel cancer
