During the general election, we asked you to Vote Cancer Support and contact your prospective parliamentary candidates about our three campaign calls – all designed to improve the lives of people affected by cancer. The response was phenomenal: more than 6,600 people voted. 903 candidates signed up, of which 163 became MPs. This represents 25% of parliamentarians showing support for the campaign.
But we still have a long way to go. We know that MPs listened to us – but now the new coalition government is in post, we need to make them act.
One of our campaigns calls was for 24/7 community nursing. We believe that everyone has the right to die at home, if they wish. And in order for people to make this choice – they need the right support. We’re pushing for community nurses to be available whenever they’re needed, day or night, so that carers, loved ones and patients can have peace of mind – and not have to resort to a hospital admission.
This week we released a report that reveals how services differ across the country. Only about half of PCTs offer a full 24-hour, seven day a week community nursing service. This means that up to 19 million people aren’t able to access this service.
More needs to be done to ensure that people can choose to die at home.
We’ll be asking the new government to recognise the importance of 24/7 community nursing and include incentives that will enable them to introduce it across the country.
Take a look at a PDF of our report: Always there?
We’d love to hear from you too. How do you feel about 24/7 community nursing?
