The Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to cut VAT on high-factor sun cream in an effort to tackle rates of skin cancer.
The party claims making high-factor protective sunscreens exempt from VAT would make them more affordable, and therefore increase use.
They’re also advocating for a broader package to cut cancer treatment times including recruiting more cancer nurses.
Data provided from 49 NHS hospital trusts asking for the number of patients on waiting lists for skin cancer treatment and a breakdown of how long patients waited to start treatment found many patients were waiting longer than the 62-day standard to start treatment.
Lib Dems call to cut VAT on sun cream
One patient at Norwich and Norfolk NHS Trust was left waiting 345 days following an urgent referral for treatment.
Lib Dem deputy leader and health spokesperson, Daisy Cooper, said the state of cancer services in the UK “is shocking and tragic”.
She said: “We are seeing people up and down the country left waiting far too long for the care they need.
“This recent hot weather should serve as a stark reminder that skin cancer services are in desperate need of support and the staggering increase in referrals shows we must do more to prevent people from getting skin cancer in the first place.
“That means making it affordable for people to protect themselves from skin cancer by cutting VAT on high-factor protective sunscreen and securing a public commitment from major retailers that they will pass on the financial benefit to consumers.
“The Liberal Democrats have put forward a comprehensive plan to tackle the crisis in cancer care.
“We need to ensure that all patients start treatment as soon as possible and this Government needs to make recruiting more cancer nurses a top priority.
RECOMMENDED READING
How long does sunscreen last? How to be safe in the sun
“The Conservatives have left our NHS in a disastrous state, now we need this new Government to listen to people and deliver the services they deserve.”
The Liberal Democrats are urging the new Government to introduce a guarantee that 100% of patients will be able to start cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral. The party is also calling on ministers to recruit more cancer nurses so that every patient has a dedicated specialist supporting them throughout their treatment.
A survey for Melanoma Focus found that 50% of people think sun cream is too expensive, with one in 10 saying they do not use it due to the cost.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel