Shortly after the news of missed critical diagnosis’s regarding cancer on the NHS, another finding has been revealed. According to the first national audit of services, the NHS is failing to deliver diagnosis and treatment to thousands of patients with prostrate cancer.
Half of all men with the disease do not receive all the support services they should receive in hospitals, and there is a ‘worryingly vast variation’ in access to the latest radiotherapy techniques and MRI scans.
Eighty percent of radiation centres in Britain do not offer brachytherapy- which uses radioactive seeds planted inside the prostrate and can help half of men retain their sex lives.
In the UK, more than 41,000 men are diagnosed with prostrate cancer, making it the most common cancer amongst men. The cancer leads to 10,000 deaths annually.
The first audit examined 153 NHS trusts in England and Wales, and determined that though increasingly advanced techniques were being used for treatment, there was definitely ‘room for improvement’.
Owen Sharp, of Prostrate Cancer UK, said the findings cannot be ignored and variations in care must be tackled ‘head on’.
