Home
Bournemouth West
About John
Parliament
Local Issues
Press Releases
Charities
Surgeries
Contact John
Text Size
A
A
A
31/1/07
BOURNEMOUTH WEST M.P. PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR A BETTER FINANCIAL DEAL FOR CANCER PATIENTS
 |
Bournemouth West M.P., Sir John Butterfill, has given his support to tackling the financial burden faced by local cancer patients and their families.
Speaking after a meeting with local Macmillan Cancer Support staff to discuss issues affecting cancer patients in Bournemouth, John said “There are clearly many people living with cancer in Bournemouth who are suffering financial hardship as a result of their diagnosis. That is why I applaud the work that Macmillan is doing to highlight this issue and back their call for people diagnosed with cancer to be offered specialist benefits advice to ensure that they and their families get the money to which they are entitled.
“It is unacceptable that over half the number of people with terminal cancer are not getting benefits that are rightfully theirs, either because they don’t know they can claim or because of the complexity of the system.”
Jeff Faulkner, Director of Macmillan Cancer Support in Central and South West England and Wales, said “I was delighted to meet John Butterfill and thank him for helping to raise awareness of this vitally important issue. It is quite wrong that so many cancer patients and their families are having to worry about finances at a time when they need to concentrate on their health. One simple way to ease the financial burden on cancer patients would be to ensure that patients undergoing treatment are exempt from all hospital parking charges and for hospitals to properly advertise their hospital travel costs schemes to cancer patients. In addition to this, we are encouraging people to take part in the current survey about the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme to improve the way in which it is promoted to NHS staff and patients”.
John said: “People with cancer who are worried about money can call Macmillan’s free campaign hotline on 0808 500 800, log onto www.macmillan.org.uk/betterdeal or discuss it with their doctor, nurse or local Citizens Advice Bureau.”