Children with cancer face 60-mile commute for treatment
Tuesday 07 December 2010
New research carried out by cancer charity CLIC Sargent has found that children with cancer travel an average of 60 miles, up to five times a week for hospital treatment(1).
The charity’s report A Long Way From Home, which is sponsored by Tesco and published in Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, examines the journeys made by 10,000 children and young people with cancer(2) and shows that families regularly spend almost two hours travelling to and from hospital, for appointments that may last for only a short period of time(3). Three out of four(4) have to travel to another city for their treatment.
Childhood cancer is uncommon, so treatment usually takes place at 19 principal treatment centres (PTCs) across the UK. As a result children with cancer get expert clinical care and survival rates have improved, but the downside is that they may have to travel hundreds of miles from home for much of their treatment(5), which can last for up to three years.
Travelling long distances on a regular basis can add to the many physical, emotional, practical and financial pressures that children and their families face following a cancer diagnosis, and can significantly disrupt school, work and the ability to lead a ‘normal’ family life.
Three-year-old Faith from Thurso in the Highlands was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at eight weeks old and received treatment in Glasgow and Inverness. A round-trip from the family home to Glasgow is 488 miles and takes up to six hours, but the family was able to stay free of charge in a CLIC Sargent ‘Home from Home’(7) close to the hospital, so they didn’t have to make a return journey in a single day.
Faith’s mother, Natalie, said: “The journey was one of the hardest parts of Faith’s treatment. It just makes you so tired and even more emotional than you already are. When there was a possibility Faith might need chemotherapy in addition to surgery, we seriously considered moving to Glasgow.”
Those with very rare cancers such as retinoblastoma – a cancer of the eye which affects just 20 children a year - may have to travel even further, as just two cities in the UK provide the specialist care they need(6). One family helped by CLIC Sargent faced a 900-mile round trip for this treatment.
Lorraine Clifton, Chief Executive of CLIC Sargent says: "When a child is diagnosed with cancer, it can be devastating for the whole family. Travelling long distances to and from hospital day in, day out means that normal life stops: children can’t go to school, parents can’t go to work, and siblings’ lives are disrupted. Time in hospital is vital, but better coordination of hospital and community-based care is needed to help children with cancer spend less time on the road and more time at home, so they can keep up with school or work, friendships and everyday life.”
CLIC Sargent is also Tesco Charity of the Year 2010, and the partnership aims to raise £5 million for CLIC Sargent, to help children spend more time at home and less time in hospital, including helping to fund new specialist children’s cancer nurse posts across the UK. These specialist children’s cancer nurses will then be able to act as key workers - coordinating the care and support of children with cancer both in hospital and in the community.
David North, Community and Government Director at Tesco, said: “When a child is diagnosed with cancer it has a huge impact on their whole family. That’s why Tesco staff and customers are helping to fund more CLIC Sargent nurses; so that more families can maintain as normal a family life as possible by getting the support they need at home or in their local community, rather than having to travel for treatment.”
CLIC Sargent provides clinical, practical and emotional support for young cancer patients and their families, from diagnosis onwards; including free Home from Home accommodation close to some specialist hospitals, help claiming benefits, grants to help with extra costs and nurses who can provide care such as blood tests and chemotherapy at home.
Notes
1. The average round-trip by road, based on the most direct route on priority roads between the child’s home and the hospital where they received their diagnosis and most of their treatment, rounded to the nearest mile (source:driving-distances.com). The frequency of visits to hospital depends on the type of cancer and treatment. Children who require radiotherapy will typically receive treatment once or twice a day, for five days a week.
2. CLIC Sargent analysed the records of 9,889 children and young people aged 18 years or less at diagnosis who had registered with the charity since 2005.
3. Average journey time of 1 hour 50 minutes, based on the maximum speed limit on each road rounded to the nearest 5 minutes (source:driving-distances.com). A radiotherapy session can last 15 minutes, but time in hospital may be much longer.
4. 77% of children included in the analysis do not live in a city with a principle treatment centre.
6. London and Birmingham
7. CLIC Sargent Homes from Home offer families free self-catering accommodation within walking distance of the principal treatment centres in Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Nottingham, Oxford and Southampton. CLIC Sargent’s ambition is to extend its Homes from Home programme to ensure that as many families as possible have access to accommodation close to principal treatment centres across the UK.
For more information
Please contact Katherine Burges in the CLIC Sargent Press Office on 0117 314 8620 or email katherine.burges@clicsargent.org.uk