“We are failing people with brain tumours!”

Right now public services are under immense pressure. If action isn’t taken, the situation will continue to deteriorate. They face the pressures of a population which is growing older, higher levels of illness and a stagnant economy.

It’s clear something needs to be done, the challenge is how we can fix a broken system. Most of the proposed solutions are focused on reforming the wider system, for instance, greater funding and reforms to the ways public services operate.

However, any reforms must also be accompanied by clear steps for improving care and support for individual groups. Otherwise, we risk reducing overall waiting lists without making the large improvements needed for individual groups and conditions.

A condition this is particularly true of is brain tumours. This is an area where we have made little in the way of advances in treatment. This stagnation is only exacerbated by the wider issues of a struggling benefits system, long NHS waiting lists, and the wider cost of living crisis.

Within the NHS, brain tumour patients face multiple issues. These include long wait times, the common misdiagnosis of brain tumours, a lack of funding for research, and a lack of available treatments.

Our health service is also falling behind internationally on outcomes for those with brain tumours and so are the wider rates of survival for cancer. Out of 29 countries, the UK came 22nd for brain cancer survival rates. It’s clear from this not just that we are falling behind but that we can learn from other countries with survival rates above our own.

Whilst no country is perfect, countries such as Australia have high survival rates. This is partly achieved, according to Professor David Currow, the Chief Cancer Officer of New South Wales, with early detection and ensuring surgeries take place in hospitals regularly performing those operations and referring patients to multidisciplinary cancer care teams.

The same kind of issues can be seen where those with brain tumours rely on the benefits system. The effects of a brain tumour can include being unable to work. 28% of people give up work entirely and 50% experience financial difficulties.

We know that the benefits system can often be difficult to navigate including the elements focused on supporting those with health conditions. For instance Citizens Advice says that “people with long-term health problems, are too often not getting the support they need.” The task of helping people through the process of applying and receiving support often falls to charities such as through the The Brain Tumour Charity benefits clinic.

It’s clear we need to improve not just treatment but every step of the process for those with brain tumours. Our struggling benefits system and health service have a knock-on effect on those with brain tumours. That is without taking into account the additional complexities and health conditions caused by brain tumours.

Treating brain tumours and supporting those with them urgently requires more investment, a greater focus by the government, and more funding for research.

It’s why we at Centre Think Tank are supporting the calls for a National Brain Tumour Strategy from The Brain Tumour Charity. The core aims of this strategy include:

• Wraparound care for patients including support with benefits.
• Access to better brain tumour treatments.
• Making the diagnosis of brain tumours faster and more efficient.
• Increasing the amount of research into understanding brain tumours.

These policy proposals provide a roadmap for the government to improve care for those with brain tumours. They will begin to fix a broken system and improve care.

The plan also builds a path to future treatments. These include practical solutions such as BrainPath® which makes it easier to access harder to reach areas of the brain and the liquid solution given to patients before operations called 5-ALA. This lights up parts of the tumour in the brain and makes it easier to remove the tumour without removing healthy tissue. Unfortunately, the roll out of this innovation has not been seen in every area of England.

There are also numerous clinical trials in progress, attempts to use a mixture of immunotherapy and personalised vaccines to further our knowledge on how effective different treatments are. There is also research which is giving us a new understanding as to why glioblastoma tumours have very high levels of recurrence after being removed and how this can be combated.

Not taking action isn’t an option. Brain tumours, both cancerous and non-cancerous, need a greater focus. Right now, our system is failing those with brain tumours, both in providing them with support now and looking for future treatments.

Things don’t have to be this way though, we need to use this strategy alongside lessons from our international partners to improve care for those with brain tumours. Doing this alongside investment in the NHS can drastically improve care.

Implementing this plan improves care now whilst building the path to future treatments. It’s a No Brainer.