I have joined forces with Breakthrough Breast Cancer recently as the charity launched the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Every Chance campaign to urgently tackle the barriers that limit equal access for older patients to breast cancer treatments and care.

I am calling on local hospitals and GPs to ensure that older breast cancer patients don't miss out on the chance to access appropriate treatment. I made the call after recent research funded by Breakthrough showed that some older patients are not benefiting from the advances in radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery over the last ten years that have dramatically improved the survival chances of younger patients:

- Breast cancer patients aged over 80 are 40 times less likely to receive surgery than younger patients
- Where surgery does take place older women are significantly less likely to receive breast conserving surgery
- Older women are significantly less likely to receive standard treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy than younger women

I also heard about Daphne Cook who, after being diagnosed with breast cancer aged 74, was told by her consultant that she needn't have radiotherapy if her age meant it was difficult for her to get to the hospital to have the life-saving treatment. Luckily for Daphne, her daughter, a health professional, was with her and questioned the consultant's reasoning.

The risk of breast cancer increases with age and currently a third of all breast cancers occur in women aged 70 and over. Experts predict a rise from nearly 46,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer today, to 57,000 in 2024[4]- an increase of over 20% meaning potentially thousands more breast cancer patients.

It's vital that we ensure that all breast cancer patients in Birmingham receive the best treatment, regardless of their age. This is a really important campaign and I'm grateful to Breakthrough Breast Cancer for bringing it to my attention.

Advances in the treatment for breast cancer are there for everyone and it's imperative that people are offered the best course of treatment for them, regardless of their age.

Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said:

"Ten years ago women like Daphne were not being given a full range of treatment options and our research has found this is still the case today, despite many advances in breast cancer treatment.

"With nearly 12,000 women dying of breast cancer each year it is scandalous that all women are not receiving equal access to the treatments they need. Breakthrough
Breast Cancer's Every Chance campaign highlights that in breast cancer treatment, where risk of disease increases with age, older patients could once again be discriminated against."

Professor Malcolm Reed, Professor of Surgical Oncology at the University of
Sheffield, adds:

"The past 10 years has seen a significant improvement in survival for patients with cancer, particularly breast cancer. However older women have not shared in this improvement and there are concerns about the way this group of women are diagnosed and treated. We need to address this inequality as a priority by ensuring that access to diagnosis and treatment is improved whilst not losing sight of the importance of taking the overall health and wishes of each individual woman into account."

Breakthrough's Every Chance campaign is calling for treatment to be based on clinical need rather than age and seeks to open the debate around the issue of age equality. We are campaigning to ensure that regardless of age, all breast cancer patients have every chance:

- to access the treatments and care that will benefit them
- to access appropriate clinical trials
- to make informed choices about their treatment

And that all women over 70 and who are no longer routinely invited to breast screening have every chance to access this vital life-saving service.