Now, more than ever, people living with cancer need to be able to get the right treatment, care and support, at the right time.
Find out how you can take action to stop cancer becoming the forgotten ‘C’ in your nation.
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The future of cancer care is under threat and hard-working health and care professionals are at breaking point. We need politicians across the UK to put the right plans and the right funding in place to make sure people with cancer get the vital care and support they need. Macmillan campaigners across the UK are calling on politicians to urgently address the workforce crisis. Will you join us by adding your name?
Now, more than ever, people living with cancer need to be able to get the right treatment, care and support, at the right time.
Find out how you can take action to stop cancer becoming the forgotten ‘C’ in your nation.
One in two. That’s the chance of getting cancer in a lifetime.
Improvements in diagnosis and treatment mean that more people are surviving or living longer with cancer. But there is a problem. Hard-working health and care professionals on the frontline need urgent support. Workloads are unmanageable and there is simply not enough staff to be there for you as they want to.
These pressures mean that many health and care professionals do not feel valued, or able to deliver the high quality, personalised patient care that they wish to. In our biggest ever survey of people living with cancer, 68% told us they are not getting the support they need from the NHS, and it’s affecting their physical and mental health. This is unacceptable.
New modelling developed by Macmillan demonstrates the specialist cancer workforce needs an additional 2,500 specialist cancer nurses, an increase of 84%.
By 2030, the gap between patient need and workforce capacity will grow to 3,700 nurses, an increase of 123% over the number of specialist cancer nurses we had at the time of our census. For full facts and figures, download our Addressing the gap report (PDF).
The Government must provide a multi-year funding settlement to support a comprehensive plan to grow the NHS workforce. This should include plans to reverse the current and increasing gap in the specialist cancer nurse workforce.
We need the right number of NHS and care professionals with the right skills to ensure people with cancer get the vital care and support they need. Three million people are now living with cancer in the UK. That’s higher than ever before, so your support has never been more vital.
Let’s support the NHS and care workforce so that people living with cancer get the world-class care and support they deserve. Let’s put the frontline first and save our support.
Click on your nation to see what's happening and find out how you can get involved.
We are campaigning for politicians to save our support. Join our call for urgent action.
Add your nameMacmillan wants people to live life as fully as they can. Yet, right now, hard-working health and care professionals on the frontline are at breaking point. There isn’t enough staff or the resources for training to deliver the best care and support for people with cancer.
In our biggest ever survey of people living with cancer, 68% told us they are not getting the support they need from the NHS, and it’s affecting their physical and mental health. This is unacceptable. If politicians don’t make changes to support the workforce with the right plans and funding now, people will struggle to get the care and support they need. We need your help to make sure the voices of people living with cancer are heard.
We'd love it if you can help us grow our movement. You can:
A few minutes of your time can make all the difference.
Macmillan wants people in Northern Ireland to live life as fully as they can. Yet right now, too many people living with cancer in Northern Ireland are not getting the care and support they need. We don’t have the number of health and social care professionals we need, with the right skills, working together in the right way for people living with cancer to meet all of their needs. Without urgent action from the Northern Ireland Assembly, people living with cancer will be at risk.
Macmillan is right there campaigning on your behalf for changes across the system. But we can’t do this on our own.
We need your help to call on Health Minister Swann to make tackling this crisis an urgent priority.
We need the Northern Ireland Assembly to ensure there is:
We'd love it if you can help us grow our movement. You can:
A few minutes of your time can make all the difference.
Macmillan wants people in Scotland to live life as fully as they can. Health and social care staff tell us they are overstretched, that the system is not sustainable, that morale is low, and we that have an ageing workforce. The NHS and social care system in Scotland simply does not have enough of a workforce to cope with the growing numbers and needs of people with cancer.
Now that the Scottish Government has published its workforce plan, we need:
Right now, you can help us grow our movement:
A few minutes of your time can make all the difference.
Macmillan will be asking supporters to contact their MSPs in the Scottish Parliament to help drive improvements to the cancer workforce across Scotland. Watch this space for future campaign actions.
Macmillan wants people in Wales to live life as fully as they can. Yet right now, too many people living with cancer in Wales are not getting the care and support they need. We don’t have the number of health and social care professionals we need, with the right skills, working together in the right way for people living with cancer to meet all of their needs. Without urgent action from the Welsh Government, people living with cancer will be at risk.
Macmillan is right there campaigning on your behalf for changes across the system. But we can’t do this on our own.
We need your help to call on the Health and Social Services Minister, Vaughan Gething AM, to make tackling this crisis an urgent priority.
We need the Welsh Government to ensure there is:
We'd love it if you can help us grow our movement. You can:
A few minutes of your time can make all the difference.
We want everyone with cancer to receive the right level of treatment and support, regardless of who they are and where they live. Signing up as a campaigner is just one way you can help.
We contest that over the next decade, we need a more compelling and sector-wide approach to inequalities. The publication of an inequalities chapter in the NHS Long Term Plan constitutes an encouraging first step.
Want to know what we're talking about right now? Read our blog, Think. Improve. Change for the latest analysis and insight from Macmillan Cancer Support's researchers, policy analysts and public affairs experts.
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