No Time to Wait during the pandemic

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, our NHS came under immense pressure, and some pancreatic cancer treatment was delayed by up to two months. With more than half of people dying within three months of diagnosis, pancreatic cancer was a cancer emergency before the pandemic. Even short delays between diagnosis and treatment can drastically lower survival rates for the 10,000 people diagnosed each year.

That’s why we launched our No Time to Wait campaign. Please see below for the impact our campaign had during the first waves of the pandemic.

The pandemic, staff shortages and underfunding continue to push our NHS to breaking point. These pressures reached crisis point during the winter of 2022 when we launched the latest phase of our No Time to Wait campaign.

Bryony’s story

Our impact during the pandemic

Thanks to your support for the No Time to Wait campaign in 2020 we had a huge impact. With your support we were able to change the priority pancreatic cancer was given throughout the pandemic.

• Over 62,000 of us called on NHS decision makers to take action
• 800 of you contacted your parliamentarians
• Together we influenced 89% of NHS bodies across the to publish their plans to restore their pancreatic cancer services. Our contact with NHS bodies allowed us to gather and share best practice with health professionals ahead of the second wave.
• The campaign led to us being given a seat at the table at the NHS England Cancer recovery taskforce. This was a major breakthrough for the profile of pancreatic cancer and gave us influence over healthcare decisions at a national level.
• Following our open letter calling for urgent action, we met with Jo Churchill, the minister with responsibility for cancer in England, about the impact of the pandemic on pancreatic cancer.

Thanks to  our incredible supporters, we made sure the voices of people affected by pancreatic cancer were heard by the NHS and UK Governments during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.