Merseyside cancer timebomb fear over missed screenings
THOUSANDS of people are gambling with their lives by failing to attend early-warning cancer screenings, doctors warned last night.The Merseyside region has some of the lowest uptake rates for cancer testing, which experts say is now being reflected in the region’s spiralling number of cancer sufferers.
Across Cheshire and Merseyside, just 55% of appointments for bowel cancer testing are kept – lower than the national average.
Of the appointments kept, 3% require further investigation, higher than the national average.
Figures for the number of women in key at-risk groups for cervical cancer – the 25-39 age bracket – show that just 62% of women in the region attended tests for the cancer when invited.
For Liverpool alone, around 20,000 women in the key at-risk age bracket have not had a cervical cancer test within the recommended 3½-year time range.
And Liverpool also lags behind the region for women attending breast cancer screenings.
Department of Health statistics reveal a 68.4% take-up rate in Liverpool, compared with 72% in Sefton, 77% in Halton and St Helens, 80% in West Cheshire and 81.2% in Wirral.
The number of women eligible for breast cancer screening is expected to rise in years to come as the “baby boomer” generation reaches screening age.
Chris Holcombe, lead clinician in cancer at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, said the problems in getting people to attend were causing concern.
He said: “In the case of breast cancer, for example, we’ve a much better chance of helping someone if a possible cancer is picked up on a scan than if they only seek help when they feel a lump. The scan can pick up a possible cancer when it is much too small to feel, and the most important thing with cancer is early detection.
“People are often fearful of what might happen if they go for a scan, but not know-ing is much more dangerous than finding out and getting something done about it.
“Certainly in areas which are described as deprived, we see a marked drop in the number of people who attend appoint-ments. We are working with GPs and prim-ary care trusts to make sure we get the message out that early detection is vital.”
Dr Ewan Wilkinson, acting director of Health Outcomes at Liverpool PCT said the PCT was working to both increase take-up rates of screening and make people aware of causes of cancer, such as obesity and poor diet.
He said: “It is estimated that over half of all cancers could be prevented.
“Late diagnosis is seen as a major contribution to poor survival rates. Action on prevention will include a continued focus on lifestyle factors including reducing smoking, obesity, excessive alcohol intake, sun awareness and awareness raising of lifestyle factors contributing to cancer.”
The NHS in the region is bracing itself for an upsurge in cancer cases.
Figures produced by regional cancer experts show the number of cases of cancer diagnosed in the North West annually is expected to rise by 37% between now and 2018, from 35,470 to 48,690.
Breast cancer cases are expected to increase by 54.2%, colorectal cancer by 31%, oesophageal cancer by 49%, and skin cancer cases will more than double.
Liverpool is expected to be among the worst places hit in the North West by the increase in cancer cases, as its general death rate is higher than the rest of the region.
The city’s high mortality rate means an extra 350 people die of cancer each year when compared to the national average.
That figure is 82 in Wirral, 95 in Knowsley, 130 in Halton and St Helens, and 69 in Sefton.
Regionally, cases of stomach cancer are expected to fall, while the effects of the national smoking ban are expected to lead to a sharper reduction in lung cancer cases than currently being witnessed.
The biggest cancer killer in Liverpool is lung cancer, accounting for 400 – or just under a third – of deaths every year.
Joan Elmer, a project worker at the Liverpool Cancer Support Centre, in Aigburth, said: “There has been a sharp rise, but you have to remember that survival rates have also increased.
“Early detection is vital. It gives you a much better chance of survival. People should always consider that if in doubt, they should seek help instantly.”
A WOMAN who tried to ignore a growing spot on her chest which proved to be skin cancer last night urged people to always seek advice quickly.
Justine Sheils, a 36-year-old administrator, from Maghull, Liverpool, began using sunbeds when she was 15.
But she was not screened for several years and even tried to ignore a spot on her chest for 18 months. By then, she was suffering from a carcinoma that took her to death’s door.
She said: “I didn’t even consider skin cancer. It was just when I got into the doctor’s surgery that I saw a poster on the wall and I thought – you know what, that’s what I’ve got.
“I would advise anyone to get themselves checked out and screened if they’ve got any concerns whatsoever. If they’ve got anything that hasn’t been there before, go straight away.”
She believes this advice could have limited what has been a harrowing passage of time as she fought off cancer.
It all began simply by wanting just to fit in.
She said: “I can remember when we were all wearing long socks to school and all the other girls had lovely brown legs and I wanted to be like them.
“The tanning salon was near my school and I used to go in for sunbed sessions on my way home,” she added.
“There was always an occasion like a party or an outing when I had the excuse to top up my tan.”
Twenty years later, there are more shops and more youngsters using beds, she said.
“The beautician I go to now has sunbeds and when I go there I just want to take them aside and show them what it can do. I just want them to know and maybe make them think.
“They’re getting younger, I see girls of 14 or 15 in their school uniforms going into that same salon I used to use and they come out looking like lobsters.
“They all think something like cancer could never happen to them. But it happened to me.”
When she was 32, she was diagnosed with malignant mela- noma on her chest.
She said: “I ignored it for 18 months and it got worse. Then they said that was OK after treatment at Ormskirk and Aintree, and they found another on my back.”
In fact, Justine has undergone two major operations to remove cancerous tumours including one “the size of a golf ball” on the back of her head.
In one of the operat- ions, surgeons took muscle from her stomach and transplanted it onto her scalp.
She said: “I just want to do something to warn young people about the possible consequences of using sunbeds. If my story can stop one girl risking melanoma then something good will have come out of my cancer diagnosis.”
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