As part of an NHS survey, more than 70,000 people who have undergone cancer treatment in England have been asked about their care.
Although the NHS said cancer survival rates, and patient satisfaction with cancer care, were at a record high, a quarter of people said they did not have the possible side effects explained prior to the start of treatment. And more than a third (39%) said the longer-term side-effects of treatment were not fully explained – Macmillan Cancer Support said that equated to about 120,000 people a year. There’s no doubt about it, cancer is one of the few illnesses where the treatments often feel worse than the illness itself. And some of these side-effects can be long-term or permanent and as such, can be a high price to pay.
However, we are all different, with some patients wishing to know very little, and others, everything. As individuals, we also react in different ways to treatment.
Macmillan warned that without this information, patients “may feel uncertain about treatment, feel forced to give up a job or feel unsure about how to prepare for the impact cancer might have on them physically, financially and emotional”.
Were you given accurate and adequate information about your treatment, or were you left in the dark?
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