We stood back to help the NHS
Now it’s time to restore cancer services
After months of going without, cancer patients are losing patience. Doctors say they are worried that many of us are losing out. Currently, over 300,000 have signed a petition set up by Craig Russell, who recently lost his daughter to cancer,
Kelly Smith’s life was cut short after her chemo stopped as a direct result of COVID. Her family @CraigRu08521011 recorded a direct appeal to @MattHancock asking him to meet and boost cancer services to deal with the backlog. Please Retweet! #CatchUpWithCancer pic.twitter.com/RJhL9QAvpw
— CatchUpWithCancer (@RTherapy4Life) September 2, 2020
During lockdown, thousands of us would stand on our doorsteps every week, to clap for the NHS. Gradually, those enthusiastically clapping began to realise it was the staff who deserved the claps – not the Service itself. So the claps fizzled out.
What doctors feel
Yesterday, during a hospital appointment with an eminent Professor, it was evident that she was fed up with the service. We discussed how it was that the staff had taken over – and how much better things had been without the NHS Administration layer; since they were all at home they weren’t able to stifle the service,
Sadly, she commented that already there were signs the bureaucrats were returning to their desks, eager to take up their posts and start interfering. With a massive backlog of canceled appointments to sort out, they recently offered me a ‘six-monthly review’ for February 2022 – not even 2021.
Although I was seeing the professor about a problem caused by polio, she wanted to be assured that I was going to see a colleague for my cancer check-up – and smiled a wry smile when I said that I always saw her privately, so as to get sufficient time to talk, and would be seeing her in two months.
But – I should be able to have this appointment on the NHS., but even before lockdown, it was impossible to get correct cancer check-ups, so I had had to pay for these.
Sign Petition
So why not do something for yourself . Get on the phone and DEMAND re-scheduling of your canceled appointments NOW – not for 2022
And sign the petition below. There are around 300,000 signatures already – wouldn’t it be nice to hit Hapless Hancock with half a million!