Early diagnosis can prevent cancer deaths
The mere mention of the word ‘cancer’ by your doctor can bring about understandable feelings of fear and denial – but we’d all rather hear it before it’s too late.
It was recently revealed by the Government’s cancer tsar that 10,000 people a year die due to late diagnosis of cancer – doubling the previous estimate for preventable deaths – and the blame is being laid at the feet of both patients and doctors.
It is now widely recognised that late diagnosis of cancer is a major reason for poor survival rates. Causes range from patients finding it difficult to make appointments, being worried about taking time off work and losing money, and doctors misdiagnosing symptoms.
A recent survey by the charity Cancer Research UK found that 40 per cent of people would put off visiting their GP for fear of being labelled a time-waster.
National Cancer Director Professor Mike Richards has revised his estimate after studying the three biggest killers – lung, bowel and breast cancer – which together cause almost 63,000 deaths a year.
Professor Richards has announced in the British Journal of Cancer that earlier detection of symptoms could save between 5,000 and 10,000 lives a year in England. The higher figure is nearly twice his previous calculation, which put the figure at about 5,000.
Ninety per cent of patients are currently diagnosed by symptoms, rather than through screening.
More than one in three people will develop cancer during their lifetime. In the UK alone, 285,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, with nearly 155,000 fatalities.
Many people may be unaware that there are more than 200 different types of cancer, with breast, stomach, large bowel and prostate cancer accounting for more than half of all new cases.
Britain's survival rates for cancer are the worst in Western Europe with only 53 per cent of women and 42 per cent of men with cancer surviving for more than five years.
Westfield Health now has more than 100,000 policyholders covered by its scanning benefit, which is available on many of its corporate health cash plans.
The benefit enables eligible policyholders to access MRI, CT and PET scans, which can detect serious conditions such as cancer early, at a potentially treatable stage.
Westfield was the first health cash plan provider to offer a stand-alone MRI and CT scanningbenefit – and remains the only provider to offer a complete scanning service.
Once referred by a consultant, policyholders can call Westfield’s scanning helpline and a scan will be arranged on their behalf, the cost of which is covered by the policyholder’s plan. The plan will normally provide access to scanning facilities within two weeks of referral.
More information on Westfield’s cash plans is available on this website.
© Westfield Health Insurance | 2010
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