Nurse giving care to patient (Getty Images)
Cancer patients in England are left uninformed and not given even basic information about their diseases and the potential side effects of their treatment because of staff shortages in the NHS, Macmillan Cancer Support has warned.
Macmillan Cancer Support, one of the largest British charities which provides specialist healthcare, information and financial support to people affected by cancer, said at least 120,000 cancer patients a year were not made fully aware of certain topics such as treatments and side effects, or they were not fully explained.
It also looks at the social, emotional and practical impact cancer can have, and campaigns for better cancer care. Macmillan Cancer Supports goal is to reach and improve the lives of everyone living with cancer in the UK.
Macmillan believes "soaring" staffing pressures, which left people "in the dark" about how to prepare, are to blame.
Macmillan discovered that of the more than 70,000 people who have undergone cancer treatment in England, when asked about the care they had received, more than a third (39%) said they were not fully informed of the longer-term side-effects of their treatments or that they were not fully explained - which equated to about 120,000 a year.
One in four said that they had not been forewarned of the possible side effects and one in five said that there were not always enough nurses on call to take care of them.
Macmillan warned that without this information and support, patients "may feel uncertain about treatment, feel forced to give up a job or feel unsure about how to prepare for the impact cancer might have on them physically, financially and emotional".
This comes while an NHS England representative hailed the NHS performance, claiming cancer survival rates and patient satisfaction levels with their cancer care were at record highs.
The "vast majority of patients were given the name of a clinical nurse specialist to support them through their treatment, which is testament to the hard work and compassion of NHS staff", he added.
SOURCE: PRESS TV
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/13843
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