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Rag-bag
Waitrose shoppers give to CUP Foundation
Through their community giving scheme, Waitrose in Wantage have collected £420 for our work. [May 13]
Annual Reports and Accounts
If you ever want to see, or point someone else to, our annual reports and our financial position you can see all our reports on the Charity Commission website here. [Posted Jan 13]
Christmas cards
We sold about 5,000 cards for Xmas 2012. Thank you if you bought these cards which is an excellent way to spread our message. We also receive a healthy income from these sales. We push up the sales by 500 each year but we do need you please to help buy and sell them. With the increase in postal charges in 2012 selling cards has become a greater challenge. [Posted Dec 12]
Cancer Campaigning Group
Jo's friends has joined the Cancer Campaigning Group whose aim is to campaign, with one voice, for improved cancer policy and services in the areas of: prevention; care and treatment; patient involvement and choice; and research. The Group is a coalition of national cancer-related charities.
[Posted Nov 10]
Extract of data from a National Cancer Intelligence Network report of Aug 2010 on the measurement of cancer outcomes in the UK.
The overall cancer incidence rates are relatively stable, but the number of people being diagnosed with cancer is getting bigger, as the population as a whole is getting older. Using 2006 as a baseline, the annual number of cases diagnosed is projected to increase by 33% to around 300,000 new cases in 2020. The most prevalent cancers are prostate, breast and colorectal.
- It is estimated that in 2008 there were just over two million people in the UK living with or beyond cancer and this is rising by more than 3% a year as a result of increasing incidence and survival.
- Death rates in the over 75s, compared with Europe, is actually widening. Men are almost 40 per cent more likely than women to die from cancer. Just over half of all cases of cancer diagnosed in 2003-5 in England occurred in people over 70 years and over a fifth in people over 80 years. As many as 15,000 people over 75 could be dying prematurely from cancer each year in the UK. These premature deaths could be prevented if cancer mortality rates in the UK dropped to match countries in Europe and America which have the lowest rates
- Cancer patients in England are 40 per cent more likely to survive for at least a year after diagnosis of stomach and oesophageal cancer than they were in the eighties.
- For colorectal cancer, over 90% of people diagnosed at an early stage will survive for 5 years or more, compared with only 6.6% for those diagnosed at a late stage.For colon and lung cancers, no single cancer network achieved even the European average. Between 1990 and 2006 Oral cavity cancer incidence has risen by more than 30%.
- People living in the north of England are more likely to die from cancer than the rest of the country. People in the South have the highest breast cancer rates. People living in the west of Scotland are 50 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer than people living in the rest of the UK.
- Women living in the most deprived areas of England are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer than their affluent counterparts. Black people are up to three times more likely to get prostate and stomach cancer than the white population. [Posted Sep 10]
Communication skills of consultants
A true horror story. A patient recently diagnosed with brain cancer was asking questions of his consultant. The consultant is reputed to have said: 'we all know what curiosity did to the cat, don't we?'
Recognising the variability of consultants abilities to communicate with patients, The National Cancer Action Team has asked every oncologist to complete a 3-day Advanced Cancer Communications course.
[Posted Aug 10]
VAT rise exemption rejected
A proposal that charities should be exempt from the increase in VAT to 20% in January 2011 was voted down during the Finance Bill debate in July. Questions from Bob Russell, Labour MP for Colchester, that the Prime Minister “discuss with his Treasury colleagues” how the increase in VAT that charities will have to pay can be refunded to them. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, responded “I will certainly have those conversations with the Treasury, and we will want to do everything we can to help what used to be called, rather condescendingly, the third sector but I believe is the first sector: the excellent charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises that do so much for our country. [Posted Aug 10]
Cancer symptoms
Research by Cancer 52 (July 2010) into symptom awareness for less common cancers suggests that Patients and GPs should look out for:
- Severe tiredness, pesistent pain, lumps, unexplained weight loss
- A combination of two or three symptoms
- Key words: unexplained, persistent, recurrent, severe. [Posted Jul 10]
Did you know?
The vast majority of NHS cancer funding goes on in-patient care (15% of all in-patient beds are occupied by cancer patients). This costs the NHS £2 billion each year (chemo costs around £600-700 million). There has been a massive increase in the utilization of chemotherapy of about 60% in 4 years. This has brought about significant concerns in relation to quality and safety issues. NCEPOD (2008) report. [Posted Jul 10]
And from the Pharma Times: "The UK ranks eighth out of 14 nations in terms of its usage of innovative medicines, and plummets to 12th place when assessed on its uptake of cancer drug treatments introduced within the last five years." [Posted Jul 10]
Patients say:
At first I was tired of answering the questions about CUP .. but this website has helped me realize that the world needs to know about us.
Your site is so great. I have a hard road ahead but feel calmer now that I've started a targeted chemo treatment. I fully understand the importance of your website and help.
Soon after my diagnosis my daughter contacted you and you were kind and gave her hope.
Events
The Wilson family present money raised in memory of Tracy. Photo: The Mansfield Chad and Hucknall Dispatch.
