Hello everyone … Thank you so much to all the people who have signed the petition recently. We have seen a big surge in numbers which is just fantastic.
If you are a recent signee, I thought it might be useful to include a quick recap of the various supporting activities you can take to help us make lasting #changeforgemma (Each individual task takes no more than 5 minutes):
1. You could email your MP to ask them to take up this topic with Matt Hancock (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care). There’s a really simple set of instructions you can follow on the update section of the petition from the 14th Jan 2020.
2. If you’ve emailed your MP already… awesome work. You could also send a message to the Department of Health… again there are some really simple instructions on the update section of the petition from 22nd Feb 2020 (it’s a ‘contact us’ form on the Department of Health website).. but we’ve given you all the links and text you might need.
3. As importantly as the above, you should talk about the petition! Whilst we will continue to battle for change, by talking about this topic, we can ensure that our loved ones are asking for a robust discharge from any primary cancer treatment and in doing so avoid the unnecessary suffering Gemma has had to endure.
We hope the recap was useful :)
If however you've been with us a while and have already sent the online form to the department of health, its very likely that you’ve had another half-hearted reply saying (and I paraphrase) ‘we are doing all of these wonderful things to help battle cancer’ and completely avoiding the question which was asked.
If you have time (about 5 minutes maximum), below are the steps you could follow to reply to them again, to hold them to account, and an example template of text to contact them with:
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Visit this link: https://contactus.dhsc.gov.uk/?openform
Select options: Start Now > Complaint > NHS Service
At this point it will say ‘Details of how etc etc… did this answer your query’ … Select: No > You will then be on a page to fill in a form.
‘What is your query about’ – Firstly in this box its really important you copy and paste your ‘DOHASC Query ref’ from their reply… it should look something like ‘DE-1234567’. Then add your own title... key phrases to use would be: Unsatisfactory response to query, full body scans, no evidence of active disease verdict, NICE guidline review, NHS LTP cancer ambition omission etc etc.
‘Your Query’ –This section can only be 3000 characters long so keep that in mind, but, here is an example of text you could include (but feel free to edit / amend this to make it your own):
I have been very specific and clear with the gap in services that we have identified and what we feel is the right thing to do. I have outlined that Gemma and her team have offered to be part of the solution by helping with the required reviews. All I have received so far are unhelpful replies full of stats (that whilst very interesting) do not answer the specific questions asked.
So finally I’d like to close with the question one more time:
Will the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care commission an urgent review in to the process and guidelines (including but not limited to the NICE guidelines and NHS long term plan ambitions relating to cancer) to include a more robust and comprehensive approach to full body checks (blood tests or scans) that SHOULD be carried out prior to a patient being given a no evidence of active disease verdict?
If not, why not?
To be clear, Gemma and her petition signees completely understand that a review and change to the guidelines will not mean that all cancer patients that have had a primary cancer require a full body check prior to being discharged .. (i.e if you have had a localised cancerous mole removal, we wouldn't expect a full MRI as part of the discharge process), however we don't see any evidence that the process / guidelines / triage are in place to ensure that all people who do require the robustness of discharge are getting it at present.
Many thanks
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Then add your details and click submit! (it took me about 4 minutes in total :) )
It’s another faffy additional step that we are being made to follow, but, we are determined that persistence WILL pay off.
With enough people not taking 'No' for an answer, we will eventually make The Department for Health and Social Care listen and help them make lasting #changeforgemma
Thank you so much again for all your support, signatures and shares… we couldn’t do this without your support!
Good health, light and energy to you all from Gemma and the team.