Prostate cancer sufferers ‘receive second-rate treatment’

Prostate cancer patients are not treated as quickly or as efficiently as those with breast cancer, it has been claimed.

According to the All-Party Parliamentary Cancer Group, men being treated for prostate cancer on the NHS are less likely to be offered counselling and support than women with breast cancer, reports the Daily Mail.

The group, which is comprised of MPs, also identified discrepancies in treatment according to the age of patients.

John Baron, the chairman of the organisation, is quoted by the newspaper as saying: “Our inquiry found evidence of truly appalling inequalities in the care, treatment and survival rates of different groups of cancer patients.”

He added that a particular worry is the prevalence of ageism in the NHS and suggested that a “one-year survival measure” may be a way of helping to tackle the problems it has identified.

In other NHS news, Baroness Young, chair of the Care Quality Commission, said last week that the hospital inspection rating – which currently ranges from excellent to poor – is not thorough enough, the Telegraph reported.