Older women ‘less likely’ to be offered treatment for ovarian cancer

A new report which analysed data from over 17,000 cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed across England between 2016 and 2018, found that 60 per cent of women over the age of 79 did not receive either surgery or chemotherapy, while 37 per cent of women over the age of 70 did not receive any treatment.

The researchers cautioned that in light of the ageing population, it was vital that women of all ages have access to the best possible treatments.

Speaking of the report, Ovarian Cancer Action chief executive Cary Wakefield, said “Neither your age nor location should decide your chance of survival if you are diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

“Our audit is the first step in addressing the health inequalities women across England face, so we can begin to dismantle them.”

Professor Sudha Sundar, president of the British Gynaecological Cancer Society, added “We now need a fully funded audit to identify and rectify what factors are responsible for this worrying variation in anticancer treatment received by women across England.

“We know that these factors can be organisational, for example availability of theatre lists or intensive care beds; we will be urging our members to carefully look at this data and discuss this with our hospital trusts.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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