The Joint Council on Vaccination and Immunisation has declined to recommend the extension of the vaccination programme to boys. The medical community is far from happy. Please clink on the link below for more information.
This decision will mean that in some years time many men will unnecessarily develop hpv related throat cancer.
A busy spring and summer programme came to a close with another trip on Chesterfield canal. This time the destination was The Mill, a hostelry that supplied us with excellent food, most of which had never seen the inside of a freezer! There was plenty to see on the journey with swallows frequently darting down onto the water and mallards squawking with disgust as they had to move out of the way of the barge.
We now have our annual break but will be back with our regular meetings in September, when we have also planned a Coffee Morning to mark European Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week.
July 27th is designated as the international Head and Neck Cancer Day.
There are events organised worldwide, including in the UK, to mark the day and raise awareness.
As with all cancers, early diagnosis is a key factor in survival. In the picture below some common signs of head and neck cancer are shown.
Additionally, why not check your mouth for any suspicious signs or better still ask your dentist for a check up.
On Monday 26 June we were given the use of the Information Point at the hospital.
The picture shows Chairman, Ray Mountain presenting a boogie board to Head and Neck Nurse Practitioner, Mary Green. This device is for the use of any patient admitted onto Devonshire ward unable to communicate verbally, through being a laryngectomee, tracheostomee or for other reasons.
A boogie board is a thin tablet with a liquid crystal display. You can write on it with a stylus or finger and wipe it clean in an instant using a delete button. It can assist communication between the patient and both their clinicians and families.
We also raised some funds and promoted awareness of early signs of head and neck cancer. As usual at such days there were many valuable conversations with patients, visitors and staff.
On Wednesday June 7th, the Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisation will be discussing extending the HPV vaccination programme to boys as well as girls.
Here is NALC’s view:
From statistics published in 2014, head and neck cancer incidence has increased by 30% since the early 1990s. Though the reduction in smoking has had benefits this has been eclipsed by the contribution of HPV to head and neck cancer incidence.
The Center for Disease Prevention and Control estimates over 70% of oropharyngeal cancer is due to HPV. The % of cases of laryngeal cancer attributable to HPV is lower but still significant, according to International Agency for Cancer Research reports.
NALC strongly supports the proposal for the inclusion of boys in the HPV programme. If the JCVI is convinced of the efficacy of the long-standing programme for girls, why is it resisting its extensions to boys? Like leading clinicians in the field, as well as relevant professional organisations and other patient groups, NALC is convinced the proposal would lead to a reduction in people developing the awful disease that is head and neck cancer.
Members had been looking forward for some months to a trip to the National Memorial Arboretum, near Burton on Trent, Derbyshire. We were very fortunate that after 24 hours of rain the day started and remained sunny and warm.
The Arboretum offers a variety of different experiences ranging from imposing memorials to the fallen to quiet riverside walks with abundant sights of nature to look for. For those who cannot or don’t wish to walk great distances there is a land train which visits the key spots.
One memorial that attracts many visitors is Shot At Dawn, the one remembering the 300 or more serviceman who were executed by firing squad for failing to follow orders. In 2006 all these were given an official pardon . Each post displays the details of the serviceman shot and the vast majority were around 20 years old.
The Arboretum is well-worth more than one visit and the unanimous view was we need to organise a second trip next year. Roy O’Neill was especially delighted to find the memorial for members of the Royal Tank Regiment, in which he served.
( A second picture is in the Gallery)
The Olde House, our usual base is closed during May for refurbishment.
Please see the meetings page for full details of the changes.
Also our April social evening has been moved from Monday 17th of April to the next day, Tuesday 18th, because of the Bank Holiday.
The experiences of head and neck cancer patients improved after the publication of NICE’s Improving Outcomes Guidance around a dozen years ago Not long afterwards a national audit of head and neck patients called DAHNO was introduced.
It collected many details of the treatment of patients and this enabled clinicians and others who analysed the data to make recommendations to improve the patient experience.
For a patient group like NALC it is valuable to know the facts about the numbers of patients adopting a particular method of speech after a laryngectomy or how many had radiotherapy as opposed to laser surgery for early cancer of the larynx and variations across the country.
In 2015 DAHNO was replaced by a new audit, HANA.
Sadly NHS England will not be providing funding beyond the current year, but the group, led by Professor Iain Hutchison, are seeking to continue the audit. They deserve the support of everyone who is concerned about improving the standard of care for head and neck cancer patients.
HNChelp is very grateful, once again, for the support it has received from The Rotary Club of Clay Cross.
Our Secretary, Malcolm Babb was invited to a meeting where the Rotary Club presented its donations to several local charities. In his thanks for the donation Malcolm spoke about our new initiative, giving boogie boards to patients who have no voice, to allow them to communicate with their families and hospital staff.
On March 3rd the NICE Quality Standards Advisory Committee for Head and Neck Cancer has published its recommendations.
It focuses on four areas of treatment that were recommended in the latest NICE guidelines last year. If the recommendations are fully implemented the patient experience would be enhanced.
The full report can be found here Quality Standard
The areas are (in my words):
Avoiding Over-treatment: Introduce the use of sentinel node biopsies, which would mean reducing unnecessary neck dissections
Nutritional Assessment: Ensuring that before treatment the nutritional needs of all patients are assessed to ensure a feeding tube is in place, if necessary
Accurate Tumour Staging: Use of PET-CT scans to guide treatment decisions
Patient Choice of treatment: Radiotherapy and surgery can be equally effective with some tumours such as early larynx or oropharyngeal and the provision of patient choice is appropriate.
There were many other competing areas of treatment that were recommended by stakeholders for inclusion, and these would have also yielded patient benefit. However Quality Standards are always limited to a small number of issues.