NHS special report: My cancer unit's just a production line

Denise Jones, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Picture: Tony Johnson.

Huddersfield carer Denise Jones, 61, was diagnosed with breast cancer three months ago. Two years ago, she had a benign brain tumour removed.

The past few years have been a time of turmoil, she says, but she is adamant it is not the fault of NHS workers who are trying their best - it is a symptom of a cash-starved system.

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“Everybody is trying to blame the NHS,” she said. “And yet this country has not provided for growth. It’s not the care that’s the problem, it’s the numbers. It all boils down to funding.”

Mrs Jones, initially treated in Huddersfield, travels to Leeds by public transport for her care. It wasn’t available locally, she was told, and she was offered the option for this or Manchester.

“It doesn’t matter too much to me,” she said. “On the outside I don’t look like I’m ill, but on the inside, well I don’t know.

“But it’s like a production line. I’m sat next to people queuing who are telling me they are dying - what can you say to that?

“The brilliant people in the NHS are not responsible for what’s happening today. This is a Government problem. They have not provided for the population that is today.”

And while the care staff she deals with are “amazing”, she says, what’s needed is more hospitals for all kinds of care, not less.

“I’m grateful for the NHS, I really am,” she said. “They are marvellous. My life has been in turmoil for the past two years.

“The staff deal with it every day, it’s amazing what they do.”

Cancer care is a huge focus of the STPs, with pledges to invest, increase survival rates, speed up diagnosis and reduce mortality, but little detail on how it will be done.

“I’m classed as part of the ageing population,” said Mrs Jones. “I’m part of the problem apparently.

“Our population is growing. Yet how many hospitals have been built? Or extended? We can’t even park our car at the hospital there are so many people there.

“That’s not your everyday patient’s problem, but it’s impacting on patient care.”