Postcode Lottery Treatment for Prostate Cancer Patients
Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal that prostate cancer patient’s chances of survival vary dramatically between different parliamentary constituencies as controlled by different Primary Care Trusts, further evidence of the unfair postcode lottery provision of health care that patients receive throughout the country.
The average annual death rate for prostate cancer in England is 26.6 per 100,000. In the affluent areas of Surrey Heath and Windsor the average death rate is twenty percent above the national average, standing at 32 per 100,000 for both areas. At the other end of the spectrum Blackburn and Burnley’s death rates for prostate cancer stood 32% below the national average, at 18 per 100,000.
Yet such variances do not necessarily correspond to large geographical distances. Lewisham West in South-East London has one of the worst mortality rates, at 38 deaths per 100,000 people - 43 per cent above the England average. Yet in a neighbouring part of London, North Southwark and Bermondsey, death rates are 15 per 100,000.
Such palpable inequalities of health care are totally unacceptable. All patients have the right to a uniform level of quality controlled health care irrespective of what their postcode is. However even when viewed at a uniform level through averages, the U.K performs badly in prostrate care when compared to other European countries. Every year in the UK, around 32,000 men are diagnosed with the disease. The five-year survival rate for UK patients with prostate cancer is one of the lowest in Europe standing at 52 percent. Austria, who top the list stand at 83.6 percent.
It is well documented that sufferers of prostate cancer are often diagnosed late. The advent of a screening test - prostatespecific antigen (PSA) - has led to increases in the numbers of men being diagnosed with the disease in northern and Western Europe. In the UK, men can ask their GP for a PSA test but they are not automatically offered one. Austria is the only European country with a formal screening programme.
Also, UK patients' struggle to receive prostate cancer treatment such as brachytherapy and Taxotere, it has been suggested that this is due to the more streamlined treatment that patients of the cancer receive. The NHS has struggled to overcome its bureaucracy to offer this streamlined, specialized treatment that is evident across the continent.
Frank Chinegwundoh, a consultant urologist and member of Prostate Cancer Charter for Action, said: "More than any other cancer, the story of prostate cancer remains a story of inequalities. Prostate cancer sufferers report worse care, lower awareness and poorer outcomes more than other patients."
The Patients Association calls on the government to improve the level of patient care it administers for patients of prostate cancer, regardless of where they live.
