Cancer survivor blames politicians as waiting times increase

A TYRONE man who survived testicular cancer has claimed people across the North are being ‘totally let down’ by politicians as the crisis facing cancer services deepens.

Recent cancer waiting times statistics have demonstrated huge inadequacies in the access patients have to treatment, across all five health trusts.

New analysis from Macmillan Cancer Support suggests over 2,700 people would survive an extra six months or more if targets were met.

The most recent numbers available show that in September 2023, 44 per-cent of patients within the Western Health Trust received treatment within two months of their diagnosis, making cancer services there the best performing in the region.

The next two top performing trusts were also ones that care for patients in Tyrone, with 40.9 per-cent of patients in the Southern Trust being seen within two months of their diagnosis, and 39.3 per-cent in the Northern Trust.

But Pomeroy man and cancer survivor, Steven Gilkinson, told the TyroneHerald that he chose to receive private treatment instead of waiting any longer on the NHS.

‘PRETTY BAD’

Mr Gilkinson said, “It is pretty bad here now. I went private because I could not wait the length of time they were asking me to.”

The father-of-two received his diagnosis on a Wednesday and found himself being promptly recalled to hospital two days later.

“At that point, I was terrified. I did not know if it had spread through the rest of my body or how long it would take for that to happen. I will be honest, all I could think was death.”

However, when he got into the hospital, the NHS doctors and nurses reassured Steven and helped him calm down.

“I was grateful for that, but they could not give me what I needed, and that was treatment right away.”

Speaking honestly about the terror that came along with his diagnosis, Steven described how being forced to linger on a waiting list would have only fanned his fears.

“Six to eight weeks they said, before I would get an operation.

“’Two months?’, I thought. I could not wait that long. All I could think was how much it could spread in that time. I wanted the operation that day, so I decided to go private.

“The fact that waiting lists have become so long is not fair on patients; it is a total let-down on the part of the government.

“Everyone is paying into the pot via their taxes, and it is only when they need to dip into it that you find out that it is basically empty.”

Mr Gilkinson continued, “The government has so much to answer for. There they go joining another war (in Yemen) and only the other day Sunak promised millions more in support of Ukraine. Okay, well, tell me this, where is the support for people here who receive a cancer diagnosis?”

NEGLECTED

Concluding, Steven was careful to clarify that he was not placing blame on the NHS or HSC staff, but on the political system which for so long has neglected the health service.

“I don’t blame doctors or nurses for any other this. They are doing the best with what they have. I blame the politicians.

“It is ridiculous, they have made me feel guilty for having to go private. But what else was I suppossed to do? Wait in the queue and take my chances?

“I had to do what was necessary for me and my family, and that’s what I did. But without private health care, who knows what would have happened?”

Statistics show that cancer patients in Belfast had the worst access to treatment, with only 22.6 per-cent getting access within the critical two-month window.

Figures from Macmillan also show one in three people who have been diagnosed with cancer in the North in the past ten years have experienced long waits or delays. Among those affected by delays, one in eight said that they believe this has led to their cancer getting worse, and one in five said that long waits have meant that they have had to put their ‘entire lives on hold’.