In memory of my dad, who sadly passed away from cancer in March after a two-year battle with the illness.

The NHS must change its system for providing emergency hospital access to cancer patients. Currently, patients with cancer are required to go through A&E to receive urgent care, which is both inappropriate and inhumane.

People undergoing chemotherapy have severely weakened immune systems, leaving them vulnerable to life-threatening infections that often require emergency hospital treatment. Right now, cancer patients must go to A&E like the general population, waiting for hours in a crowded room full of people who may be contagious.

I witnessed this firsthand: my father, whose immune system was dangerously compromised, had to endure 18 hours in a waiting room surrounded by sick people. He was forced to sit in discomfort while suffering from nausea, fever, and extreme frailty. On multiple occasions, they couldn’t even provide him with a proper chair, and I had to act as his footrest. This experience was inhumane and unacceptable.

There are an estimated 3 million people living with cancer in the UK, a number projected to grow to 3.5 million by 2025, 4 million by 2030, and 5.3 million by 2040. With 1 in 2 people expected to develop some form of cancer in their lifetime, the changes requested in this petition will affect us all and our loved ones.

I firmly believe that cancer patients and other immunocompromised individuals should have a dedicated, separate pathway for emergency hospital admissions, avoiding the need to sit in public waiting rooms.