This afternoon, I spoke in the debate in Westminster Hall on breast cancer diagnosis and services during the ongoing pandemic.
Breast Cancer Now estimates that nearly a million women who require screening are currently waiting across the United Kingdom, and around 8,600 of them could be living with undetected breast cancer.
As part of the London borough of Sutton, in Carshalton and Wallington we are lucky to be home to the world-leading Royal Marsden Hospital. I want to put on record my thanks to Dame Cally Palmer and the amazing staff at the Royal Marsden whom I had the pleasure of visiting recently.
Sutton is also home to the Institute of Cancer Research, which is expanding in conjunction with the Royal Marsden to become the first cancer hub in London and, indeed, the UKâright on our doorstep. That will provide thousands of highly skilled jobs for the area, and it is massively exciting for the future of cancer research. Sutton could well be the site of a major breakthrough in cancer research. The ICR and the Royal Marsden do a fantastic job.
The latter stepped up and played its role in tackling the pandemic, adapting to deal with coronavirus patients, but that meant, sadly, that cancer patients had their diagnosis delayed, as did so many others.
In the second national lockdown, it is most important to ensure that those services are not paused again. I am pleased that that has not happened in our part of London, but we must have a plan to deal with the backlog as soon as possible.
I will continue to press the Government on this important issue, as well as continuing my work with charities and other organisations to move this forward.
You can read a transcript of the entire debate here, and watch my remarks above.
