On the pulse


Cancerkin’s news…


Hyde Park Walk 2011...

Cancerkin’s 8th Hyde Park Walk will take place this year on Sunday 19th June 2011. More information will be sent out to you all very soon regarding the day and registration for the event so please do let all your friends, families and colleagues know about Cancerkin’s biggest event of the year!

In the meantime, we are looking for volunteers to help us with our mail out in the coming weeks and with other preparations for the walk. If you have just an hour to spare or would like to be more involved, please get in touch with Laura on 0207 830 2323 or on l.smith@cancerkin.org.uk.


Dance workshops

We are pleased to announce that from April, Cancerkin will be offering weekly Dance therapy classes with Marina Benini MA RDMP, Lecturer in Movement Studies and Dance Movement Psychotherapy, Goldsmiths Unit of Psychotherapeutic studies. They will be held on Mondays from 11.30am to 12.30am, beginning 11th April 2011. Please contact Habeeb on 020 7830 2323 or at h.ahmed@cancerkin.org.uk to register your interest.


Art therapy classes

Milena Petrova will be returning to Cancerkin to begin a new series of weekly art therapy classes from Tuesday 5th April 2011 from 11am to 1pm. No previous artistic experience is necessary. Please note these classes will not take place on Tuesday 26th April and Tuesday 31st May 2011. If you would like to book a place at the workshop, please contact Habeeb on 020 7830 2323 or at h.ahmed@cancerkin.org.uk.


Cancerkin wants you!

Cancerkin wants to recruit a new member to its team in the full-time role of patient co-coordinator. If you are a bright and enthusiastic individual with plenty of initiative and administrative experience, we would love to hear from you. You can find more details about the position on the ‘jobs with us’ section of our website www.cancerkin.org.uk. If you or someone you know is interested in applying, please forward a CV together with a covering letter saying why you want the job to info@cancerkin.org.uk.


In the news…


Variations in surgery rates

Recently On the pulse reported on a Cancer Research UK-funded study into survival rates and levels of treatment of breast cancer in different age groups. This study revealed that those over 70 were much more likely to be diagnosed late and much less likely that those under 70 to receive surgery as treatment for their breast cancer. A more general study into variations in rates of surgery for cancer patients in England has been published this week by the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) with interesting results.

As Dr Mick Peake, clinical lead of NCIN, explains in his Cancer Research UK blog, surgery is the most likely way to cure cancer and also plays an important role in palliative care. Understanding why some patients receive surgery and some do not could therefore help to improve standards of care and cancer survival rates in England. Using hospital data, the NCIN report looked at patients diagnosed with one of thirteen different cancers between 2004 and 2006 around England to determine variation in the proportion of patients having treatment by way of major surgery.

The report revealed that surgical rates drop steeply as patient age increases. Although this is not an unsurprising trend, Dr Peake points out that the fall in surgery begins in age groups as young as 50 for a number of common cancers, namely ovarian, kidney and cervical cancer. It also found that there is huge variation in the proportion of patients having surgery with different types of cancer – nearly 85 percent of breast cancer patients but less that 10 percent of lung cancer patients have surgery. Apart from breast, uterus and liver cancer, surgery rates also varied depending on location, but not necessarily on social and economic circumstances. Except cervical cancer, the report found that no major fall in surgery rates was found in patients in more deprived areas.

As Dr Peake explains, reasons for variation in age and geography do not directly relate to a hospital’s quality of care but may be attributed to: the stage at which the disease is diagnosed; late presentation of symptoms; patients, particularly the elderly, electing not to have surgery; and varying numbers of patients with other illnesses that prevent them from having surgery. As complete data on these factors is yet to be made available, the report is unable to fully explain specific variations but further research hopes to uncover the underlying causes for the differences that have now been identified.

To read more of Cancer Research UK’s blog, please click here.


Laura Smith 18th March 2011