Cancer Patients Face Discrimination in UK

cancer

Four in ten of cancer patients who return to their jobs after treatment in the United Kingdom have problems, a rise of more than 50 per cent from three years ago.

Cancer patients are suffering a rise in discrimination at work, research has found. Patients are denied time off for appointments, passed over for promotion or abused by peers.

Despite the 2010 Equality Act, which should protect workers with cancer, harassment forces some to quit, Macmillan Cancer Support has claimed.

Macmillan Cancer Support

A YouGov survey commissioned by the charity found one out of ten people who go back to work after cancer treatment leaves because of discrimination.

The poll of 168 adults returning to work after cancer found 37 per cent experienced discrimination, up from 23 per cent in 2010.

More than 100,000 working age people get cancer each year. Paul Ware, 46, from London, was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2010.

He said: “When I told my employer I’d been diagnosed with cancer and asked to have some time off for treatment, I was given the sack. It was a shock as I had a very successful career.”

Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan, said: “Employers risk prosecution by flouting their legal responsibility to protect people living with cancer.

“Going back to work after treatment can be very isolating. [As] the retirement age rises, cancer will become an increasingly common issue.”

He added that helping people to stay in work “isn’t difficult and is likely to be cheaper and easier than recruiting a replacement”.