Robert Fisk (left) has sent a vital letter to Wes Streeting (Image: PA)
Remember how excited you got when opening a letter as a child? It was a time when DMs only existed on people’s feet, and you didn’t know what bills were, so anything that you got sent was an adventure. Back then, I felt naive after realising the letter Belinda Carlisle had sent me was printed and posted to all her fans, not just 12-year-old me. I remember laughing when I got a letter from the then editor of the Evening Standard in London, in reply to my asking for work experience. She said they were too busy to consider such a thing. I wisely refrained from replying to point out the four spelling mistakes in her letter.
And, more than a few years later, I remember my disappointment when a medical professional wrote to tell me his team had decided I was too ill for one service but not sick enough for the next one up. Instead of being on a waiting list, I was in medical limbo.
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But when it comes to cancer, there isn’t a not ill enough, nor too ill. It’s a priority for the NHS and the Government, and they want to treat as many people as possible as efficiently as they can.
They’ll treat someone who has precancerous cells and will also treat someone who has just days to live.
But what I discovered when I was diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer back in the summer of 2023 is that the mental health aspects of cancer are rarely talked about, let alone treated. This is despite the emotional agony that the millions of Britons with cancer go through each day.
This is why the Daily Express started the Cancer Care campaign. We want the Government and the NHS to recognise mental health issues as a key side effect of cancer and ensure that all patients get support both during and after treatment.
I’m so grateful to all of the charities and cancer campaigners who have lent their support to this vital cause, and to every one of you for reading the articles and signing the petition.
And now we are at a crucial stage. The Government is set to release its Cancer Plan on World Cancer Day, which is February 4, and that should say how it is going to treat the ever-growing number of people who are diagnosed with the horrific disease.
Before then, I hope to receive a reply to a letter I’ve sent to Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Ashley Dalton today.
My letter outlines why mental health needs to be the key priority when fighting cancer, and how all patients should be given support.
I suspect the Cancer Plan will already include references to a holistic needs assessment, which is supposed to take place after diagnosis and provide a way for patients to voice their concerns about their disease and treatment.
Many hospitals, including the one where I have completed 55 cycles of chemotherapy, say they already do this assessment. But evidence unearthed during the campaign reveals that this is rarely the case.
In the reply from Wes Streeting and Ashley Dalton, I want them to reveal how they are going to ensure these assessments take place.
I also want them to go further and take up the other demands of the Cancer Care campaign and ensure that patients are asked about their mental health by their medical team on a regular basis. This will ensure patients can be referred to the support they need.
Taking these steps will help improve millions of lives, not just now but in the years to come.
I’ll let you know what they say.
Daily Express Cancer Care Crusade letter to Wes Streeting in full:
Dear Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Ashley Dalton MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention
*Mental health support for cancer patients*
We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, are writing to urge you to ensure that mental health support is a central part of your National Cancer Plan when it is published next month. We would like to request a meeting with you to discuss the importance of this matter.
As you both know from personal experience, cancer is the worst thing that most people will go through in their lifetime, and yet available mental health support is often lacklustre and does not meet patient demand.
The Daily Express launched its Cancer Care campaign in January 2025, recognising the importance of support for cancer patients with emotional and mental health issues, both during and after treatment.
It came about after I was diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer two-and-a-half years ago. I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it can be to access support, and I want your help to change that.
At the Express, we have heard of people who have been given the all-clear from cancer but have killed themselves because they are so scared of it returning. We have heard of people who have only survived with the help of their GPs or organisations like the Samaritans.
Everyone we have spoken to has told us how they were in need of support, and while some cancer departments do offer mental health support, in most cases, it just wasn’t there. It’s essential that all cancer units offer such support to patients, both during and after treatment.
Meanwhile, I’ve recently been told one of my tumours has slightly increased in size, and there is uncertainty about what this means for my treatment regimen.
The only certainty is that the mental health support I need to cope with the realisation that my cancer may be spreading just isn’t there at my NHS hospital.
According to the Department for Health, people with cancer are supposed to receive a Holistic Needs Assessment either when they are diagnosed or shortly after, to identify physical, emotional and practical needs.
It’s vital that these needs are addressed not only at the point of diagnosis but also throughout treatment. But at the moment, this is falling through the cracks. The assessment is rarely carried out, and when it is, many patients have said it hasn’t been fit for purpose.
The Daily Express has joined forces with cancer charities and campaigners to call for every NHS cancer patient to receive a Holistic Needs Assessment, and for these assessments to be regularly updated as their treatment progresses.
Mental health issues are a main side-effect of all cancers, with patients forced to deal with a new, very uncertain reality, but medical teams don’t ask their patients about them. This must change, and they must be made a focal point of the Holistic Needs Assessment.
We also want patients to be routinely asked about their mental health and wellbeing during consultations with their medical team, so they can be directed to help with any issues they are experiencing – whether from low-level support, such as a walking group to combat loneliness, or a referral to an oncology psychologist for patients experiencing extreme distress.
But hospitals are only treating the physical sides of the disease.
We’d like to meet with you to discuss how mental health support must be at the heart of the National Cancer Plan. Ensuring this happens will help to improve and save millions of lives.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Robert Fisk, Daily Express reporter and lead on the Cancer Care campaign
Geoff Maynard, Daily Express editor-in-chief
Henny Braund, chief executive of Anthony Nolan
Dr Michele Afif, chief executive of The Brain Tumour Charity
Claire Rowney, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now
Richard Ashton, chief executive of Childhood Eye Cancer Trust
Peter McCleave, managing director of DKMS UK
Danni Heath, director of Get-A-Head
Colin Dyer, chief executive of Leukaemia Care
Dame Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie’s
Lisa Walker, chief executive of Neuroendocrine Cancer UK
Julie Child, executive director of Oracle Head and Neck Cancer UK
Diana Jupp, chief executive of Pancreatic Cancer UK
Calvin Bailey MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prostate Cancer
Oliver Kemp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer Research
Laura Kerby, chief executive of Prostate Cancer UK
Sarah Gray, director of operations and national programmes at Tackle Prostate Cancer
Chris Curtis, chief executive of The Swallows Head & Neck Cancer Charity
Barbara Fountain, tongue cancer survivor and chief executive and founder of Young Tongues
Jay Aston, former Bucks Fizz singer and tongue cancer survivor
Ngozi Onwuchekwa, cancer campaigner and rhabdomyosarcoma survivor
Hannah Penn, cancer campaigner and skin cancer survivor
