Representatives of patients, institutions and health experts discussed the agenda for 2024 during the Cancer Policy Forum in Rome. Mancuso: «The road is still very long»
Strengthening of networks, hospital-territory continuity, access to
genetic testing
, involvement of associations in decision-making processes. These are the next challenges oncohematology
at the center of the Cancer policy forum which took place in Rome on Thursday 14 December. The “Health: an asset to be defended, a right to be promoted” Group, during the annual meeting at the end of the year to take stock of the activity carried out, took stock of the anti-cancer policies in Italy: patient associations, experts and representatives of the institutions met to address the agenda of work for the near future. And the report could not fail to start from the important goals achieved this year, such as the recent approval of oncology oblivion law. Among the challenges awaiting patient associations and institutions are the actions envisaged in “Mission 6 health” of the Pnrr to redesign the national healthcare structure with the reorganization of hospital-territory care, the strengthening of oncology networksfrom the palliative care And pain therapy and gods rare tumors, the expansion of access to genetic tests and precision treatments up to the increasingly active involvement of associations at decision-making tables. Collaboration and dialogue with institutional and government representatives are fundamental: to reward good policy in oncology, the awards of the fifth edition of the Cancer policy award.
After having underlined the central role of patients in health decision-making processes and thanks to the increasingly close and fruitful collaboration with institutional representatives, with the intermediation of the parliamentary intergroup «Together for a commitment against cancer», Annamaria Mancuso, president of Salute Donna Odv and coordinator of the Group «Health: an asset to be defended, a right to be promoted», recalled «the great work we have carried out in the last 12 months comes from afar and is largely due to the efforts and to the desire of all of us to overcome those obstacles and disparities that unfortunately we still see persisting in our country in the care and assistance of cancer and haematological oncology patients. I must thank all the 45 associations who have joined our political-institutional advocacy project over the years and who continue to flow into the Group if up to now some of the objectives we had set ourselves have been achieved, but the road is still very long and difficult, however, the attention to the needs of the sick on the part of civil society and political decision-makers is growing every day.” Progress has been made: for example, «the allocation of a Fund to implement the national oncology plan for which we must thank the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, and the law on the right to oncological oblivion, which will allow former patients to be able access mortgages and contracts of various kinds without having to provide information on previous illness – Mancuso pointed out -. Progress has also been made on the work front, with the increase in the period of duty for tens of thousands of patients, who in addition to the worry of having to manage the neoplastic disease are forced to continue their working activity amidst a thousand obstacles, which we we want to break down by finding fair and shareable solutions with the employer. But, as I was saying, the road is long.” During the event the various interlocutors took stock of the complex challenges that await oncology in the coming years, a discussion that served both to strengthen the Group's activity and to bring out the new needs of oncology and oncohematology patients compared to a National Health Service in trouble, but which will necessarily have to deal more and more with diagnostic and therapeutic evolution and innovation, the need for continuity of care for chronic conditions in the area inevitably linked to the hospital and the sustainability of the entire system. Among the many topics at the center of the debate, the Group's first and indispensable objective remains that of improving the management and assistance of cancer patients. «Even today in Italy, due to organisational, socio-economic, cultural and environmental factors, there are disparities in exposure to risk factorsdisparity inaccess to screening for cancer prevention, disparity in access to early diagnosis and in access to innovative medicines”, added Mancuso. Furthermore, during the meeting the awards for the fifth edition of the Cancer policy award, the prize reserved for good healthcare policy, were awarded. A unique initiative in Italy, which sees as protagonists the representatives of national and regional institutions who have distinguished themselves for having presented important political documents for the improvement of the care of patients with cancer.
The Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, among the winners of this edition, explained that «this Cancer policy forum has become a timely event, every year, to focus attention on the many fronts of the battle against tumor diseases which today are the cause of a quarter of all cancers deaths and even a third of those that would be possible to prevent. The fight against cancer is a priority in which we have been strongly committed right from the start. Last year, here, we announced our commitment to adopting the National Oncology Plan. Today that Plan exists: in a few months we adopted and financed it. Thanks to this tool, and through all the other levers we have at our disposal, we are working to support research and prevention, the strengthening of the capacity to take charge, care and assistance, as well as rehabilitation paths”. And among the commitments for next year, Schillaci recalled that «the commitment to prevention will remain central: there is maximum effort to promote correct lifestyles to intervene on risk factors and oncological screenings, to intercept the disease in the most early. As regards screening, an evaluation process is underway on the possibility of including those for prostate cancer and lung cancer among the programs offered by the National Health Service. There is a lot of work underway, but the big problem of overcoming the disparities in assistance still present in the area remains. I repeat, everyone has the right to find healthcare citizenship, with the best care, in any place and in any social and economic condition. This is why we are committed to supporting the strengthening of regional oncology networks and above all the capacity to take charge. We are doing this with the reform of the local and hospital care networks and with the great push for home care.” For Senator Guido Quintino Liris, coordinator of the parliamentary intergroup «Together for a commitment against cancer» in the Senate «this is an exceptional day, not only because I am hosting the event but because this forum is an achievement. We work in both the Chamber and the Senate to advance the issues that Annamaria Mancuso has been fighting for for some time. I represent the pride of being here as a senator, but even before that as a medical director of the NHS who dealt with prevention, and being able to bring the requests of cancer patients into the legislative dynamics today is a privilege.” The coordinator of the Parliamentary Intergroup in the Chamber, Vanessa Cattoi, wanted to thank «President Mancuso for having involved me in this extraordinary project. In this legislature we manage to work well, in a transversal manner, stripping ourselves of our political guise by carrying forward the requests that come to us from patient associations and from the technical-scientific committee. In this new legislature everyone is spending a lot, without exception. The motion on the implementation of the national oncology plan is proof of this, given that it was voted for by everyone.” The point of view of the associations and experts was testified by Silvia Gregory, vice-president of Acto Italia (Alliance against ovarian cancer): «The role and position of the cancer patient associations is becoming increasingly central in recent years and will take on a relevant in the overall reorganization of the health system envisaged in Mission 6 Health of the Pnrr. We can affirm that we are moving towards a new role for associations in the field of oncology, justified by the fact that only the latter have the ability to intercept the real daily needs of patients, determining an essential contribution in directing towards increasingly effective management. and quality.” «Today the social sector must be integrated with the healthcare sector, inevitably, in order to overcome the differences still present between Italian regions in the management of oncology – added Gregory -. The associations play a crucial role because through the alliance with the institutions they can help address the critical issues of the National Health Service, they contribute to disseminating information and knowledge on oncological diseases among the population and the media, they direct patients towards the reference centers representing a important guidance when the person and family are faced with a cancer diagnosis for the first time, can have a strong impact on decisions regarding clinical trials, can promote studies on the experience of the disease and on the quality of life of patients and of caregivers”.
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December 14, 2023 (modified December 14, 2023 | 6:42 pm)
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