November 17, 2021
Alongside other members of the Blood Cancer Alliance, WMUK has launched the Forgotten Fifth - a campaign that sheds light on the unmet needs of blood cancer patients in the UK, including people living with Waldenstrom's macroglobulinaemia.
As the fifth most common type of adult cancer, we're challenging policy makers to help improve the experience and outcomes for people affected by blood cancer.
To do this we have six calls to action:
- Adopt improved mechanisms by which blood cancer patients’ needs can be factored into treatment appraisal processes, alongside better use of real-world clinical data.
- Improve and expedite appraisal processes to ensure patients can access new and life-saving treatments as quickly as possible.
- Create an overarching access policy in each UK health administration, which demonstrates commitment to delivering timely access to emerging new drugs and advanced therapies.
- Close the diagnosis gap by delivering specific strategies for blood cancer as part of the NHS plans across the UK.
- Incentivise a focus on blood cancer outcomes by ensuring each health administration in the UK measures and reports blood cancer data, and does so in terms of a single patient cohort before breaking down data by individual types of blood cancer.
- Future provision of emotional, mental health and psychological support for people diagnosed with cancer must take account of the specific and complex needs of people with blood cancer.
Read more on the Blood Cancer Alliance's website and join the campaign on social media using the #TheForgottenFifth hashtag.