Chesterfield MP, Toby Perkin, has given his backing to Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month and has been keen to find out more about the campaign in Parliament.

Toby was invited to attend the drop-in event by constituents who are concerned about waiting times for diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

More than 800 people in the UK will die from pancreatic cancer during this November’s Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month alone. And survival rates for pancreatic cancer have barely improved in decades – with thousands of lives being lost.

Sadly only 16% of people diagnosed with a less survivable cancer will live for 5 years or more after diagnosis. Less survivable cancers are difficult to diagnose, with vague or non-specific symptoms. Screening programmes are often limited or non-existent and most of the general public are unaware of common symptoms. Only 10% of pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed in time for life-saving surgery.

The five-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is the lowest of all common cancers at 6.9% behind Belgium, Germany and the US. This is not good enough. In Scotland there is a 15% target for potentially curative pancreatic surgery.

Early symptoms of pancreatic cancer include: upper abdominal pain, abdominal pain that feels worse after eating, itchy skins, losing weight without trying.

Since taking office in 2010, successive Conservative-led administrations have slashed NHS budgets in real terms, leading to rigorous targets on cancer diagnosis and treatment times being missed.

Recent data from NHS England shows that just 72.9% of patients received their first treatment for cancer within two months after seeing a consultant while one-month waits for radiotherapy also reached a new low at 90.5% of patients against a target of 94%.

Pancreatic cancer requires urgent treatment with 1 in 4 not surviving beyond a month after diagnosis and 3 in 10 not receiving active treatment at all.

Toby stated “I am pleased to give my support to Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month and would urge constituents who show symptoms of the condition to get checked out by their GP, or call 111”.

He added “It was shocking to hear the experiences of volunteers and people affected with pancreatic cancer who attended the event in Parliament and to hear about how waiting times for treatment had impacted their lives”.

An incoming Labour Government would double the number of medical school places, create 10,000 new nursing and midwifery placements each year, and double the number of district nurses qualifying each year.