Our latest updates below
News and open letters
Cancer Action Now’s 2025 Federal Pre-Budget Submission
Overview:
Cancer remains the leading cause of death in Canada. An estimated 2 in 5 people living in Canada will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime and about 1 in 4 will die from cancer. In 2024, 247,100 people living in Canada are estimated to be diagnosed.[1] With an ageing population, the number of people diagnosed with cancer and cancer mortality is projected to rise significantly in the coming decades. While our health care system is pushed to the brink, people living with cancer continue to face barriers at every step of their cancer journey.
The reality is people in Canada living with cancer are dying while they wait for care. Many are faced with the impossible choice of putting food on the table or taking on significant debt as they struggle to afford the out-of-pocket costs associated with a cancer diagnosis, such as, drugs and treatments, medical transportation and accommodation and loss of pay due to inability to work, among other costs. For underserved and equity-deserving populations in Canada, these challenges are even greater.
Recommendation 1:
The Government of Canada, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, patients, caregivers, and patient groups, should advance investments in measurable value-based patient outcomes in cancer
While the bilateral agreements between the Government of Canada and provinces and territories will see much-needed investment in the health system, these investments need to be directed towards the improvement of measurable value-based patient outcomes in cancer.
This may be achieved through the implementation of the pan-Canadian cancer data strategy to support the development of publicly available dashboards that regularly report on important cancer care metrics, as well as strengthening pan-Canadian oncology federated data networks.
We cannot fix what we cannot measure. We don’t know if the public dollars invested in our care systems are having the desired impact unless we have data to measure that.
The pan-Canadian cancer data strategy outlines three areas for investment and focus:
- Increase the efficiency and ease of data access to cancer data that is currently collected, while improving the timeliness of data capture and availability, and build on guidelines and standards, including data quality indicators.
- Modernize and sustain infrastructure for cancer data interoperability, making diagnostic and treatment data, primary care data and genomic data accessible and linkable.
- Fill gaps that exist in current data collection, specifically, investments in data collection on social determinants of health, patient-reported outcomes and experience, survivorship, palliative and end-of-life care.
Having better data will help to improve cancer prevention, access to care and outcomes – making cancer care in Canada better and more equitable – because it will focus cancer research and inform policy decisions. Investments in the modernization of data collection and the cancer data strategy will play an important role in making data more compatible, and easier to share information across different systems.
Canada’s care systems continue to lag in their ability to quickly and rapidly use existing research and evidence to improve the health of the populations they serve, in ways that are affordable, patient centered, financially sustainable, and equitable. To add to this challenge, our care systems are pushed to the brink and siloed.
Strengthening cancer data collection, access and linkages will lead to a learning health system that incorporates research within cancer care delivery, informed by quality improvement and care, to speed up evidence use and impact.
Recommendation 2:
Establish the practice of ensuring an equity lens is applied to all federal decisions related to cancer care funding.
With cancer on the rise in Canada, the Canadian government must ensure an equitable approach is taken any time decisions are made in relation to cancer care. Greater systematic equity requires a better understanding of socio-economic barriers faced by all segments of Canadian society.
During this time of economic uncertainty, with affordability top of mind for many Canadians, a cancer diagnosis only adds additional financial pressure. A 2024 study shows cancer costs – including medication, transportation to and from appointments, and caregiver expenses – can range from an average of $253 to as much as $550 per month.[2] In the circumstances where an individual must either take a leave of absence or resign from their job, these financial costs make an even larger impact. The costs relating to cancer in Canada such as direct healthcare system costs and out-of-pocket expenses was an estimated $26.2 billion in 2021 with patients and their families being responsible for 30% of these costs.[3] The added cost of a cancer diagnosis leaves some patients with no choice but to go without the care and treatments they need.
With the ongoing affordability crisis, Canadians should not have to manage both a cancer diagnosis and the costs associated with cancer treatment.
For individuals living in rural and remote communities, access to healthcare is an ongoing issue, especially for those living with life-threatening conditions such as cancer. People in rural in remote areas are more likely to die from cancer.[4] Travelling to appointments and treatments, as well as a lack of access to information becomes an additional barrier.
To ensure an equity lens is applied to cancer care funding and health care accessibility, it is important for Canada to collect race-based data. Currently, there are gaps in data collection preventing members of racialized communities from accessing necessary healthcare. These gaps are a result of structural and systemic racism within healthcare that cause member of racialized communities to not feel comfortable going to healthcare providers.[5] Until we have focused strategies aimed at helping stakeholders collect this data, the government and healthcare providers will not have a clear understanding of the experiences of racialized patients in the health care system. To implement an equity lens, the government and its partners must understand the experiences and priorities of racialized groups.
Inequality relating to gender and cancer is an increasingly highlighted issue in Canada. Currently, government policy around early detection is a barrier for women. A recent study shows how rates of breast cancer in women under the age of 50 are rising in Canada due to women being diagnosed at later stages, when the cancer is more aggressive. This worrying phenomenon is occurring because women not being regularly screened. [6] There is a clear barrier around diagnosis and treatment of Canada among women and the government must apply an equity lens when allocating funding.
Additionally, the Federal government has a key role to play in advancing cancer strategy priorities that close the gaps in cancer care and outcomes between First Nations, Inuit and Métis and other people in Canada. This includes investments to advance culturally appropriate care closer to home, peoples-specific, self-determined cancer care and First Nations-, Inuit- or Métis-governed research and data systems.
Understanding the financial burden associated with a cancer diagnosis and the impact on groups facing barriers such as individuals living in rural and remote communities, racialized groups and gender inequality is critical. This is why we are asking the federal government to apply an equity lens to all decision making for funding cancer care in Canada and support a better understanding of the current inequities that exist.
Recommendation 3:
Reduce the cost of cancer drugs, foster a research ecosystem of innovation, and continue to provide safeguards to existing access to drugs that are already available to patients
On average, Canadians wait two years for access to new medicines through public drug plans following drug approval from Health Canada. This is double the average time reported in several other high-income OECD countries. According to a report from the Conference Board of Canada in 2022, it took a minimum of 28 months for life-saving treatments and drugs to reach 50 per cent of public plan beneficiaries.
People in Canada living with cancer are waiting for far too long to get the treatments they need.
We need concerted action at all levels to streamline processes and explore an expedited review and approval pathway for novel and innovative cancer treatments. The Government of Canada can also play a key role in supporting provinces and territories in ensuring equitable access to these treatments for people in Canada living with cancer.
Additionally, as countries around the world accelerate their genome-based testing readiness, Canada’s health systems cannot afford to fall behind. Improved access to genomic testing can ensure patients, care providers and the health system can benefit from where science and innovation is today and where it is headed in the future. While provincial and territorial governments need to address the gaps in their current infrastructure to foster an environment for improved adoption and access to genome-based testing, the Government of Canada can play a key role in supporting and driving this momentum.
Conclusion:
Canadians participate in a lottery every time they have a brush with the cancer care system. Addressing this inequity will require concerted action from federal, provincial, and territorial governments, informed by the experiences of health care providers across the cancer care continuum, patients, caregivers, and equity-deserving groups that are navigating the cancer care system in different parts of the country.
More silos will only make these challenges worse. The federal government working with jurisdictions can tackle important priorities to improve cancer care in Canada, with particular attention on strengthening cancer data systems, improving timeliness and access to treatments, and ensuring an equity lens is applied to all decision-making in cancer care.
Important signs of progress will be when we see more Canadians diagnosed with cancer at earlier stages, fewer diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and those living with cancer not just surviving but thriving. This will mean our cancer care system is truly responsive to the needs of Canadians it serves.
About Cancer Action Now:
As a national alliance of patient organizations, professional associations, and life science companies, we are witnessing the problems our cancer care system and patients living with cancer are facing. We have come together to call on government to address the unprecedented challenges – from screening to diagnosis and treatment – so people in Canada living with cancer have a chance to live longer, better lives than anywhere else in the world.
[1] https://www.cano-acio.ca/page/CANCER_FACTS#:~:text=Cancer%20remains%20the%20leading%20cause,86%2C700%20will%20die%20from%20cancer.
[2] https://cancer.ca/en/get-involved/advocacy/cost-of-cancer
[3]https://www.cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/196/18/E615.full.pdf?utm_source=sudbury.com&utm_campaign=sudbury.com%3A%20outbound&utm_medium=referral
[4] https://cancer.ca/en/about-us/our-health-equity-work/rural-and-remote-communities
[5] https://cdn.cancer.ca/-/media/files/about-us/our-health-equity-work/underserved-communities-report_2023_en.pdf?rev=17ad3c41ed3b4b3abd99a33482b89d2a&hash=C8D25526630D310980C8B79DA73EB7D6&_gl=1*1s9x569*_gcl_au*NzE4NDcxNzQ1LjE3MjA3MTM4MDQ.
[6] https://www.uottawa.ca/about-us/media/news-all/breast-cancer-rates-rising-among-canadian-women-their-20s-30s-40s
1. Brenner, Darren R., Jennifer Gilis, Alain A. Demers, et.al. Projected estimates of cancer in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal (2024).
Open letter to the Premiers of Canada: People in Canada living with cancer are Dying to Be a Priority
Dear Canada’s Premiers:
As you convene in Halifax to align on your collective efforts to strengthen the Canadian federation and exercise leadership on issues of importance to people living in Canada, we wish to relay to you the urgency and dire need to discuss the current gaps in cancer care.
According to a report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, there is projected to be 247,100 new cancer cases diagnosed in 2024, and 88,100 cancer-related deaths.1 These numbers are not just statistics; they represent families in Canada facing cancer.
People in Canada living with cancer are facing significant challenges in screening, obtaining a diagnosis and accessing treatment, and the agonizing wait times can feel like an eternity for those living in uncertainty.
Judy Ross, a 71-year-old resident of Nova Scotia was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer not once, but twice. She struggled with accessing timely care, leading to multiple years of missed mammograms and a distressing six-month wait for treatment. Judy’s message to policy makers is to reduce wait times and provide immediate support to those diagnosed with cancer, including improving access to primary care.
Judy’s story is, unfortunately, just one of many, highlighting a system that fails to meet the needs of patients and families affected by cancer.
Cancer Action Now would like to recognize the commitments your governments have made over the last year to improve patient access and the patient experience, including the new funding allotted to cancer care specific initiatives outlined in the Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia 2024 Budgets. While significant progress is being made, there is still more work that needs to be done.
Cancer Action Now is calling on Canada’s Premiers to make cancer a political priority so that people living with cancer are no longer Dying to be a Priority.
Canada’s Premiers need to work together, and in partnership with the federal government, to make cancer a priority and develop a Pan-Canadian Action Plan to improve cancer care in Canada through coordinated efforts. We call on all Canada’s Premiers to:
- Commit to new investments towards the improvement of measurable value-based patient outcomes in cancer, with meaningful input from stakeholders, including patient and caregiver representatives. This may be achieved through the development of publicly available dashboards that regularly report on important cancer care metrics, as well as strengthening pan-Canadian oncology federated data networks.
- Prioritize early cancer detection and screening by increasing funding for existing programs, supporting research into new detection methods, ensuring equitable access to screening services, and strengthening team-based, interdisciplinary primary care.
- Ensure an equity lens is applied to all decision-making in cancer care, ensuring underserved populations impacted by cancer can access the care they need, close to home.
- Explore an expedited review and approval pathway for novel and innovative cancer treatments and ensure equitable access to these treatments for people in Canada living with cancer.
Important signs of progress will be when we see more Canadians diagnosed with early-stage cancer, fewer diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and those living with cancer not just surviving but thriving. This will mean our cancer care system is truly responsive to patient needs and living up to the world-class promise that it has.
Sincerely,
The Cancer Action Now Alliance
1. Brenner, Darren R., Jennifer Gilis, Alain A. Demers, et.al. Projected estimates of cancer in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal (2024).
Dear Federal, Provincial and Territorial Health Members:
We are writing on behalf of Cancer Action Now, an alliance of patient organizations, professional
associations, and life sciences companies advocating to ensure Canadians have access to
high-quality cancer care when and where they need it, towards the goal of improving cancer
survivorship in Canada.
As you convene in Charlottetown on October 12 to discuss Canada’s healthcare system, we urge you to prioritize the hundreds of thousands of people living in Canada affected by delays and gaps in screening, diagnosis, treatment and surgery of all forms of cancers across the
country.
Cancer care has reached a crisis point because of widespread disruptions of screening,
diagnosis, treatment and surgeries prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Statistics
Canada, in 2020 diagnosis of cancer cases dropped 12.3% lower than the average annual rate over
the previous five-year period, due to Canadians experiencing challenges accessing primary care
and screening appointments cancelled1. This means more patients now are presenting
with advanced stages of cancer, requiring aggressive treatments and more surgeries, adding more pressure and costs to already overburdened health systems.
We acknowledge the recent and ongoing efforts by your governments to address many of these
challenges, including the progress achieved on health funding agreements to boost health system
capacity. However, cancer patients and stakeholder groups across the country are concerned by
the lack of focus on cancer care outcomes within these agreements. We urge your
governments to make cancer a priority and ensure that cancer is a focus when implementing provincial action plans on priority areas including: access to primary care, reducing surgical backlogs,
access to mental health services and health data.
We call on all Health Ministers to implement the recommendations below to ensure thousands of
people in Canada touched by cancer and their families can access the care they need, where they
need it, and live healthier, longer lives than anywhere else in the world. Health systems in
Canada need long-term and adequate funding that includes dedicated funding streams for cancer
care. New investments can come to fruition by leveraging new funding via the Canada Health
Transfer and new health bilateral agreements:
Invest in the health workforce to increase the number of healthcare professionals, particularly specialists such as oncologists, and nurses, and support staff, to address staffing shortages around cancer care and reduce patient load. Furthermore, the expansion of healthcare teams is critically important so that physician’s time can be spent productively.
Enhance primary care to improve early cancer detection and diagnosis. This includes conducting timely screenings, facilitating referrals to specialized care when necessary, ensuring early diagnosis, and delivering vital health education to patients and communities.
An area of focus should be creating opportunities to enhance primary care provider knowledge
of cancer types, associated symptoms, and establishing diagnosis pathways.2
Address backlogs in cancer diagnosis and care by increasing cancer screening and treatment capacity by at least 10% over pre-pandemic levels for a period of three years to regain ground we’ve lost due to the pandemic.3 Resources should be allocated to expand and enhance cancer care facilities, diagnostic services, and treatment centers to reduce wait times and increase capacity.
Foster data-enabled cancer care systems by investing in the implementation
of a pan-Canadian cancer data strategy to ensure accountability in care delivery, interoperability across the continuum of cancer care and transparent reporting on year-over-year progress against specific cancer metrics. This will improve the timeliness of data capture and availability, establish data quality indicators, ensure cancer data interoperability and integration, fill gaps on social determinants of health data and enhance collection of patient-reported outcomes and experience.
Address access and inequity issues facing the cancer system, such as access
to therapies and innovative, genome-based therapies for cancer care and ensure the quality of care Canadians receive and how long they need to wait before they receive it, does not depend on which part of the country they live in. Equally important is enabling care at or closer to home.
Your governments have a responsibility and can tackle important priorities to improve cancer care
in Canada, with particular attention on increasing the availability of primary care for all Canadians, improving data collection, bolstering health human resources, supporting team based
interdisciplinary holistic care and ensuring equitable access to screening and treatment for all
Canadians, no matter where they live.
Important signs of progress will be when we see more Canadians diagnosed with early-stage cancer,
fewer diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and those living with cancer not just surviving but thriving. This will mean our cancer care system is truly responsive to the needs of Canadians it serves.
Please commit to taking cancer action now.
Sincerely,
The Cancer Action Now Alliance
1https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230516/dq230516c-eng.htm
2https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230516/dq230516c-eng.htm
3https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230516/dq230516c-eng.htm
Submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance for the 2024 Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the Upcoming Federal Budget
In 2022, patient organizations, professional associations, and life sciences companies witnessing the magnitude of the problem in our cancer care systems came together to form Cancer Action Now, a national alliance advocating to ensure Canadians have access to high-quality cancer care when and where they need it, towards the goal of improving cancer survivorship in Canada.
Cancer care has reached a crisis point because of widespread disruptions of screening, treatment and surgeries prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Statistics Canada, in 2020 diagnosis of cancer cases dropped 12.3% lower than the average annual rate over the previous five-year period1, due to Canadians experiencing challenges accessing primary care and screening appointments cancelled. This means more patients now are presenting with advanced stages of cancer, requiring aggressive treatments and more surgeries, adding more pressure and costs to already overburdened health systems.
The pandemic also exacerbated the shortage of health care providers, with 2022 research showing nearly 6 million Canadians don’t have a family doctor, and a third of them have been looking for over a year2. This means fewer people are being referred for screening and investigation of cancer in a timely manner, leading to even more delayed diagnoses, with many cancers detected at a later stage when they are more difficult to treat.
Our cancer care systems were struggling in the years before the pandemic. Now the situation is even worse, and our strategies must evolve in response. Canada needs to urgently address the myriad problems plaguing our health systems across the continuum of care, from primary care to specialist care, to supportive, palliative and end-of-life care. Moreover, the quality of care Canadians receive and how long they need to wait before they receive it, should not depend on which part of the country they live in.
We are calling on your government to implement the three recommendations below to ensure hundreds of thousands of Canadians touched by cancer and their families can access the care they need, where they need it, and live healthier, longer lives than anywhere else in the world.
Recommendation:
Work with provinces and territories, health care providers across the cancer care continuum, patients, caregivers, and equity-deserving groups, with guidance from the federal all-party cancer caucus, to establish a set of common, pan-Canadian standards for cancer care. This will provide an evidence-based framework for care delivery that people in Canada can rely on from coast to coast to coast.
Canada has already made progress with a National Diabetes Framework, National Long-Term Care Services Standard and the ongoing development of National Standards for Mental Health and Substance Use Services.
With dollars committed to this work in the upcoming budget, national standards for cancer care should be developed with the goal of equitably addressing gaps in priority areas, such as, increasing participation in and access to screening programs, reducing time from suspicion to diagnosis, reducing late-stage diagnosis, ensuring improved access to supportive, palliative and end-of-life care, and improving access to and adoption of biomarker testing that can advance effective therapies and improve patient outcomes, among other areas.
Recommendation:
Building on the work done by the Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, and the Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy Expert Advisory Group, invest in the creation and implementation of a pan-Canadian cancer data strategy to ensure accountability in care delivery, interoperability across the continuum of cancer care and transparent reporting on year-over-year progress against specific cancer metrics. This work should involve health care providers across the cancer care continuum, patients, caregivers, and equity-deserving groups to ensure the metrics included and measured lead to tangible improvements in the cancer care system.
Building on the work done by the Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, and the Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy Expert Advisory Group, invest in the creation and implementation of a pan-Canadian cancer data strategy to ensure accountability in care delivery, interoperability across the continuum of cancer care and transparent reporting on year-over-year progress against specific cancer metrics. This work should involve health care providers across the cancer care continuum, patients, caregivers, and equity-deserving groups to ensure the metrics included and measured lead to tangible improvements in the cancer care system.
We call on your government to invest in a cancer care data strategy to improve the timeliness of data capture and availability, establish data quality indicators, ensure cancer data interoperability and integration, fill gaps on social determinants of health data and enhance collection of patient-reported outcomes and experience. It is also vital that your government measure the cost of cancer annually and work in close collaboration with provinces and territories to make progress towards personal health records and improve data sharing between physicians, care teams and patients.
Recommendation:
Work with national organizations and provincial and territorial partners to address access and inequity issues facing the cancer system, such as, access to therapies and innovative, genome-based therapies for cancer care and ensure the quality of care Canadians receive and how long they need to wait before they receive it, does not depend on which part of the country they live in.
With the recognition that science is delivering rapid advances in cancer treatment, which are fundamental to improving outcomes, quality of life and survivorship for Canadians facing cancer diagnoses, especially at late stages, we ask that your government ensure that mechanisms to ensure timely access clinical trials or new cancer treatments be made a priority.
Rural and remote populations in Canada face a variety of barriers in accessing preventative care and treatment, including longer travel times, higher costs, and fewer available healthcare resources. They may be less likely to access or participate in cancer screening programs, may experience lengthy wait times to see specialists, or have to travel outside their jurisdictions to access care.
Canadians participate in a lottery every time they have a brush with the health care system, and it can mean the difference between getting screened for prostate cancer or not, or whether or not you have a better chance of surviving a cancer diagnosis. Addressing this inequity will require concerted action from federal, provincial and territorial governments, informed by the experiences of health care providers across the cancer care continuum, patients, caregivers, and equity-deserving groups that are navigating the cancer care system in different parts of the country.
More silos will only make these challenges worse. The federal government working with jurisdictions can tackle important priorities to improve cancer care in Canada, with particular attention on increasing the availability of primary care for all Canadians, improving data collection, bolstering health human resources, supporting team based interdisciplinary holistic care and ensuring equitable access to screening and treatment for all Canadians, no matter where they live.
Important signs of progress will be when we see more Canadians diagnosed with early-stage cancer, fewer diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and those living with cancer not just surviving but thriving. This will mean our cancer care system is truly responsive to the needs of Canadians it serves.
1https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230516/dq230516c-eng.htm
2Angus Reid, September 2022, https://angusreid.org/canada-health-care-family-doctors-shortage/
Dear Canada’s Premiers:
As you convene in Winnipeg on July 10-12 to discuss pressing issues facing people living in Canada, we urge you to prioritize the hundreds of thousands of Canadians affected by delays and gaps in screening, diagnosis and treatment of all forms of cancers.
Cancer care has reached a crisis point because of widespread disruptions of screening, treatment and surgeries prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Statistics Canada, in 2020 diagnosis of cancer cases dropped 12.3% lower than the average annual rate over the previous five-year period,1 which is likely due to difficulty in accessing primary care services and underscreening. This means more patients presenting with advanced stages of cancer, requiring aggressive treatments and more surgeries, adding more pressure and costs to already overburdened health systems.
In fact, recent research shows that 21,247 additional Canadians could lose their lives to cancer due to pandemic-related delays over the next decade.2 These are lives that can be saved if you take urgent action now to address the gaps in screening, diagnosis, treatment, and surgeries.
Already in Canada we are seeing important and innovative initiatives to help the Cancer care system such as the recent changes in New Brunswick to support cancer patients and British Columbia’s new Cancer Plan. We welcome these initiatives, but more work is needed across Canada. More collaboration across stakeholders and decision makers is also needed and we are pleased to see initiatives on this front, such as the recent launch of the all-party federal caucus on cancer.
To ensure people living in Canada have timely, equitable, and quality access to appropriate cancer care, we have come together to form Cancer Action Now, a national alliance of patient organizations, professional associations, and life sciences companies who are witnessing the magnitude of the problem in our cancer care systems faced by those living with cancer.
We are calling on premiers to address the issues in our cancer care systems so that those living with cancer have a chance to live longer, better lives than anywhere else in the world. We need cancer action now.
We call on all premiers to:
- Use new investments via the Canada Health Transfer and bilateral agreements to implement concrete measures that will improve cancer care and patient outcomes, with meaningful input from cancer stakeholders including patients and caregivers.
- Address backlogs in cancer diagnosis and care by increasing cancer screening and treatment capacity by at least 10% over pre-pandemic levels,3 for a period of three years to regain ground we’ve lost due to the pandemic.
- Use the current Federal Provincial Territorial Conference of Deputy Ministers of Health structure to convene a pan-Canadian working group to address the issues impacting our cancer care systems.
Only with concerted, coordinated action can we close the widening gaps in cancer care and save lives. The above calls to action build on the fundamental and structural reforms needed in Canada’s health-care system, especially around health data, primary care access, and healthcare workforce as outlined by many other stakeholders.
Please commit to taking cancer action now.
Sincerely,
Cancer Action Now Alliance Members
CC: Provincial and Territorial Health Ministers
1https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230516/dq230516c-eng.htm
Canadians with cancer are asking “Where is cancer?” in the proposed health care plan announced yesterday
As the Prime Minister and Premiers convened in Ottawa yesterday to discuss much-needed reforms to Canada’s health systems, cancer patients and stakeholder groups across the country are concerned by the lack of focus on cancer care outcomes in the new proposed plan.
Cancer Action Now, a national coalition of 30 health organizations, is sounding the alarm and urgently calling on governments to address the gaps in cancer care. This includes ensuring people in Canada have access to timely cancer screening, treatment and surgeries, no matter where they live.
While the discussion at the Federal-Provincial-Territorial meeting focused on funding and shared indicators for the health system more broadly, we urge provincial governments to make cancer a priority and ensure that cancer is a focus when rolling out provincial action plans on priority areas including: access to primary care, reducing surgical backlogs, access to mental health services and health data.
Linda Rouillard, a mom of three from Quebec, who was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer after her pregnancy, described the challenges she experienced in dealing with the cancer care system:
“I called about five clinics. Some told me that they were no longer taking patients because there were already too many requests due to the delays caused by the pandemic. I had to beg to be put on a waiting list as I was told that I would not get care for another two and a half months. I felt that I had run out of options. Next step was either finding a private clinic or flying to another province to get the care I needed, both of which were very expensive options. I had to fight for the request, and I had to fight to be seen earlier.”
We know that survival rates improve when cancer is detected early and the patient receives timely treatment. Linda is one of the many Canadians who have been let down by a crumbling cancer care system. Cancer was already the leading cause of death in Canada before the pandemic, but now it is estimated that an additional 21,000 lives will be lost needlessly by the end of the decade due to the backlog of cancer screenings, treatments and surgeries that built up during the pandemic.i
Andrea Knox, Director-at-Large, External Relations for the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology and a Cancer Action Now member, said:
“While an increase in funding will help bolster health system capacity, it is also vital to map indicators, set benchmarks and ensure transparent data is collected against them to measure health system performance. This will ensure that evidence-based policy decisions are being made for Canada’s cancer care system and assess if the funding is having a desired impact in areas such as workforce planning and timely and equitable access to screening, diagnosis and treatment across Canada.”
The pandemic has shown us the power of coming together and working for a common cause. The meeting yesterday was the first step in the right direction; however, this collaboration needs to continue with patients, caregivers, and organizations like the Cancer Action Now alliance. Governments must make cancer a priority in the proposed 10 year health plan to save lives.
About Cancer Action Now:
Cancer Action Now is a national alliance of patient organizations, professional associations, and life sciences companies who are witnessing the magnitude of the problem our cancer care systems and its patients are facing in light of the pandemic. We have come together to call on governments to address the issues in our cancer care systems so that Canadians with cancer have a chance to live longer, better lives than anywhere else in the world.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Charlotte Webber
Charlotte.webber@hkstrategies.ca
613-691-2195
Let’s Put Cancer at the Top of the Agenda
Dear Federal, Provincial and Territorial Health Ministers:
As you convene to discuss Canada’s healthcare system crisis, we urge you to prioritize the hundreds of thousands of people living in Canada affected by delays and gaps in screening, diagnosis, treatment and surgery of all forms of cancers across the country. 2022 may well be the worst year for cancer deaths in Canada due to the widespread disruptions on cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and surgeries during the pandemic. It is estimated that 21,247 additional Canadians could lose their lives to cancer due to pandemic-related delays over the next decade. Many of these lives could be prolonged or spared if you collectively take urgent action to address the gaps in screening, diagnosis, treatment, and surgery resulting from both the deterioration of our healthcare systems in recent years and the interruptions in cancer care systems from the pandemic.
That’s why we have come together to form the Cancer Action Now Alliance, a national alliance of patient organizations, professional associations, and life sciences companies that are witnessing the magnitude of the problem to the public, to those Canadians living with cancer, and to our own cancer care systems. We are calling on governments to address the issues in our cancer care systems so that people living with cancer have a chance to live longer, better quality lives.
We call on all Health Ministers to:
- Commit to address backlogs in cancer diagnosis and care by increasing cancer screening and treatment capacity by at least 10% over pre-pandemic levels for a period of three years to regain ground we have lost due to the interruptions caused by the pandemic. This figure is in consensus with research conducted by the McGill Task Force on the Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer Control and Care.
- Commit new investments in health care to the improvement of measurable value-based patient outcomes in cancer with meaningful input from cancer stakeholders including patient and caregiver representatives.
- Use the Federal / Provincial / Territorial structure to convene a pan-Canadian working group to address the issues impacting cancer delivery systems.
Only with concerted and coordinated action can we make up for lost ground and begin to close the widening gaps to improve health outcomes and save lives.
Please commit to taking cancer action now.
Sincerely,
The Cancer Action Now Alliance
1https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijc.33884
2ibid