Claire, supported by Tenovus Cancer Care and Deryn Consulting, launched Claire’s Campaign on the date the Senedd Health Committee’s ‘Unheard’ report was debated in the Senedd. As Claire watched from the Senedd gallery, several MSs mentioned Claire and paid tribute to the Campaign, including Sarah Murphy MS, who is the current Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing with responsibility for women’s health.
There was a collective disappointment that the recommendations outlined in the report were not accepted in full by the Welsh Government. Senedd Members also discussed the lack of a Women’s Health Plan for Wales, training and education for doctors, diagnosis through emergency admissions, and low awareness of symptoms of gynae cancers. Mabon ap Gwnyfor MS noted that compliance with the single cancer pathway target is the lowest for gynaecological cancers*.
Whilst we appreciate the Minister for Health and Social Care, Eluned Morgan MS, acknowledging that the upcoming Women’s Health Plan will avoid reference to ‘vague symptoms’, her response did not provide enough detail to reassure women that their voices would no longer be dismissed, downplayed or unheard.
At Claire’s Campaign, we believe all 26 recommendations outlined in the report should be accepted and implemented to create much-needed improvements for women with gynaecological cancer in Wales. Watch the full debate and read the transcript here.
We launched Claire’s Campaign to call for policy change and provide a platform to amplify women’s voices whose lack of care has resulted in poorer outcomes. Launching her campaign, Claire said:
“My cancer is incurable after a misdiagnosis. And I am not alone. There are many other people in Wales who have experienced similar trauma and distress, their futures stolen, their families blown apart.
Since sharing my story to the Committee, so many people have reached out to me, telling me of their own poor experiences, stories that have until now gone unheard.
I have been saddened, shocked, and outraged by all the testimonies. What I hear from women is they don’t feel they have a voice, and that their symptoms are ignored or downplayed.
I felt compelled to do something about it and passionately believe these people, these women, should have a burning platform so their stories are heard. But that’s not enough, there also needs to be change, something positive to save the lives of future generations of women, so there is not only equity of outcomes but hope too.
Claire’s Campaign will also expose injustices in cancer services for gynaecological cancer and call for an overhaul of a failing system so desperately needed. For that to happen, Welsh Government must urgently take action, and MSs need to accept all the recommendations of the report women courageously contributed to today.”
If you have been affected, share your story with us here or by emailing us at info@clairescampaign.cymru.
*The single cancer pathway target is for treatment to begin within 62 days of suspicion of cancer. Currently the Wales average statistics show that only around 35% of women meet this target, with significant variation across health boards.
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