Open letter to the Premiers of Canada: People in Canada living with cancer are Dying to Be a Priority

TORONTO, July 10, 2024 /CNW/ - Today, Cancer Action Now issued the following open letter to the Premiers of Canada to relay the urgency and dire need to discuss the current gaps in cancer care.

Dear Canada's Premiers:

As you convene in Halifax to align on your collective efforts to strengthen the Canadian federation and exercise leadership on issues of importance to people living in Canada, we wish to relay to you the urgency and dire need to discuss the current gaps in cancer care. 

According to a report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, there is projected to be 247,100 new cancer cases diagnosed in 2024, and 88,100 cancer-related deaths.¹ These numbers are not just statistics; they represent families in Canada facing cancer. 

People in Canada living with cancer are facing significant challenges in screening, obtaining a diagnosis and accessing treatment, and the agonizing wait times can feel like an eternity for those living in uncertainty.

Judy Ross, a 71-year-old resident of Nova Scotia was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer not once, but twice. She struggled with accessing timely care, leading to multiple years of missed mammograms and a distressing six-month wait for treatment. Judy's message to policy makers is to reduce wait times and provide immediate support to those diagnosed with cancer, including improving access to primary care.

Judy's story is, unfortunately, just one of many, highlighting a system that fails to meet the needs of patients and families affected by cancer.

Cancer Action Now would like to recognize the commitments your governments have made over the last year to improve patient access and the patient experience, including the new funding allotted to cancer care specific initiatives outlined in the Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia 2024 Budgets. While significant progress is being made, there is still more work that needs to be done.

Cancer Action Now is calling on Canada's Premiers to make cancer a political priority so that people living with cancer are no longer Dying to be a Priority.

Canada's Premiers need to work together, and in partnership with the federal government, to make cancer a priority and develop a Pan-Canadian Action Plan to improve cancer care in Canada through coordinated efforts. We call on all Canada's Premiers to:

1. Commit to new investments towards the improvement of measurable value-based patient outcomes in cancer, with meaningful input from stakeholders, including patient and caregiver representatives. This may be achieved through the development of publicly available dashboards that regularly report on important cancer care metrics, as well as strengthening pan-Canadian oncology federated data networks.
2. Prioritize early cancer detection and screening by increasing funding for existing programs, supporting research into new detection methods, ensuring equitable access to screening services, and strengthening team-based, interdisciplinary primary care.
3. Ensure an equity lens is applied to all decision-making in cancer care, ensuring underserved populations impacted by cancer can access the care they need, close to home.
4. Explore an expedited review and approval pathway for novel and innovative cancer treatments and ensure equitable access to these treatments for people in Canada living with cancer.

Important signs of progress will be when we see more Canadians diagnosed with early-stage cancer, fewer diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and those living with cancer not just surviving but thriving. This will mean our cancer care system is truly responsive to patient needs and living up to the world-class promise that it has.

Sincerely,

The Cancer Action Now Alliance

About Cancer Action Now:

Cancer Action Now is a national alliance of patient organizations, professional associations, and life science companies who are witnessing the magnitude of the problem our cancer care systems and its patients are facing. We have come together to call on governments to address the issues in our cancer care systems so that Canadians with cancer have a chance to live longer, better lives than anywhere else in the world.

Website: www.canceractionnow.ca

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¹ Brenner, Darren R., Jennifer Gilis, Alain A. Demers, et.al. Projected estimates of cancer in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal (2024).

SOURCE Cancer Action Now

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