In Prime Minister’s Questions today, Dame Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport, pushed the Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, to restate the government’s commitment to a Childhood Cancer Mission.
Caroline has been working with her constituent, Charlotte Fairall, to push for the government to take up a Childhood Cancer Mission following the tragic death of her daughter Sophie in September 2021 from Rhabdomyosarcoma, at the age of 10.
In PMQs, Caroline said:
“The biggest cause of death for children in this country under the age of 14 is cancer. I have been calling for a childhood cancer mission to radically change how we detect, treat and care for children with cancer.”
“Everything from genome science for detection, right the way through to 7 day a week play facilities in children’s wards.”
“The Health Secretary has been brilliant, meeting with me and has been really positive on this. But will the Deputy Prime Minister please restate the Government’s support for a childhood cancer mission?”
The Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, responded:
“Can I thank my Hon. Friend, I certainly will. The suffering that any child must go through when they get a condition like cancer at such an early age is difficult to believe, and the pressure on the families is incredible. So, I thank her for her work.”
“The Department of Health & Social Care will publish a major conditions strategy to look at improving outcomes and experiences for all cancer patients, including in particular children. I can’t pre-empt that, but I know it will draw on previous work including submissions from the various childhood cancer charities, and again I pay tribute to the work that they do.”
Cancer is the biggest cause of death for children under the age of 14 and there are frequently cases of diagnosis coming too late.
The Childhood Cancer Mission has five points that Caroline and Charlotte would like to see taken up by the government:
1. Timely diagnosis: national signs and symptoms campaign, referral pathway, standardised education materials for health & care professionals.
2. Pioneering research: identification of new treatment, funded research of screening and surveillance and a systematic review of research priorities.
3. Excellent patient experience: availability of quality food, play specialists 7 days a week and an under 16 patient experience survey.
4. World-class treatment: access to new and less toxic treatment, timely genomic testing, offer of HPV vaccine to all children, age-appropriate care.
5. Quality survivorship: evidence based mental health interventions, mental health support to immediate family, long-term psychosocial support for survivors, single point of access follow up care.
In April 2022, Caroline held a debate on Childhood Cancer Outcomes on the floor of the House of Commons, which was very popular and oversubscribed. Since then, work has been ongoing to push for much better progress on how we detect, treat and care for children with cancer.
In February, Caroline and Charlotte met with the Secretary of State at the Department for Health & Social Care, Steve Barclay, to discuss their Childhood Cancer Mission, and were encouraged with his commitment to improving child cancer services.
