Bereaved parents say lives lost 'needlessly' due to lack of blood cancer awareness
ITV News Meridian's Megan Samrai spoke to Zoë's parents about how they are trying to raise awareness of symptoms.
New studies by Oxford researchers have found around one million (940,000) years of life were lost from blood cancer between 2009-2019 in the UK.
A couple from Canterbury, who lost their daughter to blood cancer, say a lack of awareness is costing lives.
Zoë Bromfield died at the age of 26. She had been treated for tonsillitis by a GP, when she had acute and undiagnosed leukaemia.
Her parents, Nick and Katrina, say better knowledge of symptoms and earlier identification can improve survival rates.
Nick and Katrina say lives are being loss "needlessly" due to symptoms being missed.
Researchers found that survival varies by factors like social background.
They found if everyone diagnosed with blood cancer in England had the same five-year survival of the most advantaged 20% of people, around 6,500 deaths could be avoided every year.
Blood Cancer UK’s Action Plan, developed in partnership with healthcare professionals and researchers, recommends improvements in NHS workforce, early diagnosis initiatives, reducing barriers to access care, increasing access to treatments through clinical trials, and driving improvement through national data.
Blood Cancer UK’s CEO, Helen Rowntree said: “Considering the huge strides we’ve made in blood cancer research in the last 60 years, blood cancer is still the UK’s third largest cancer killer.
"Needless lives are being lost and for those living with blood cancer there’s a real fear that they’re not getting the best care and support. The blood cancer community deserves better.
“The drivers of better survival in high-performing countries urgently need to be understood and implemented for those affected by blood cancer in the UK.
"Crucially our report, grounded in expert insight, outlines a series of recommendations to ensure people with blood cancer get the best possible care."
Currently the charity Blood Cancer UK are funding £25.5m of research across 80 research projects institutions in the UK.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said:
“We have inherited a broken NHS. Too many cancer patients are waiting too long for treatment, and we are determined to change that.
“As part of our mission to get the NHS back on its feet, we will improve cancer survival rates by hitting all cancer waiting time targets within five years, as well as doubling the number of MRI and CT scanners so no patient waits longer than they should.
“We have also commissioned Lord Darzi to establish the state of the nation's health service and his findings will inform our 10-year plan to radically reform the NHS.”
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