Campaigner Tassia Haines has been praised by the Health Minister, Eluned Morgan, for her efforts to improve services for metastatic breast cancer in Wales.
Tassia, who has incurable breast cancer, had her petition for more metastatic breast cancer nurses heard in the Senedd last year. The petition also called for better awareness of symptoms and better data on the care of people with metastatic breast cancer.
The Health Minister met with Tassia last week to listen to hear experiences and ideas on how services for metastatic breast cancer in Wales can be improved.
Tassia said: “It’s been one year since our petition went through the Senedd petitions committee, and although we have worked so hard to push progress and real change, I was hugely grateful to be able to meet with the Health Minister directly and discuss recurring key information gaps and the need for better clinical provision for MBC patients throughout Wales. I was really heartened by the Ministers support, and to have the opportunity to speak with her candidly.
We’ve come this far by all working collaboratively, and I’m confident we are going to continue in that vein and commit to end the needless suffering for metastatic breast cancer patients, which remains one of the leading causes of death in women under 64 in the UK.”
The Health Minister said: “It was inspiring to meet Tassia and hear her story and experiences. It is a testament to her bravery that she has been able to use her own extremely difficult circumstances to improve services for other people.
It is important we continue to raise awareness of the symptoms of breast cancer. Tassia is also right to call for better data to be captured on metastatic breast cancer care. Our investment in a new NHS cancer information system means we will be able to capture this data in the future and together with the new national clinical audit for metastatic breast cancer this will support improvements in the quality of care.”
