Labour London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM] today responded to Macmillan Cancer Care analysis which found Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust was the third worst NHS Trust in the country in terms of the quality of experience it provided to cancer patients.

The Macmillan Cancer Patient Experience League Table, which was drawn from the 2014 National Cancer Patient Experience survey of just over 70,000 cancer patients, found that eight of the bottom ten NHS Trusts for cancer patient experience were in London. The report did however recognise the “enormous efforts” of London Trusts to improve their patients’ experience of care.

Murad Qureshi AM welcomed Macmillan’s work to highlight the concerns of cancer patients but criticised the Government’s focus on bureaucratic NHS reorganisations rather than the services such as cancer care which patients rely upon.

Labour London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM, said:

“Patients in Westminster will be concerned that eight of the bottom ten performing NHS Trusts for cancer patient experience are in London with their local Trust coming third from bottom.

“Cancer is a deeply debilitating disease and can be devastating to those diagnosed as well as their families. The NHS needs to be able not only to treat patients in an effective and coordinated way, but also improve its early detection rates.

“Instead of wasting millions on an unnecessary and disruptive re-organisation of the NHS, the Government should be focusing funding on improving these kind of frontline services which matter most to patients and the public.”

ENDS

Notes

–         Details of Macmillan’s Cancer Patient Experience League Table are available here.

–          Murad Qureshi AM is a Labour London wide Assembly Member.