WOMEN with breast cancer are receiving top quality care and are not being discriminated against on age grounds, Oxfordshire health officials insisted last night.

They refuted claims in a report issued by the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer that the county had one of the biggest gaps in services offered to young and old breast cancer sufferers.

According to an audit commissioned by the charity, only 43 per cent of women over the age of 65 in the Oxfordshire area were given breast-conserving surgery, such as a lumpectomy, which works to retain as much of the breast as possible, below the national average of 47.6 per cent.

But 58 per cent of women under 65 received the surgery, significantly above the average, making the gap for the treatment between the two age groups one of the widest in the country.

However, it has emerged the statistics take into account figures from surrounding counties including Wiltshire, Buckingham-shire and Berkshire.

Breakthrough commissioned the audit to see if there was discrimination in treatment between younger and older patients.

It found women older than 65 were more likely to have a mastectomy, or full breast removal, than surgery to conserve as much of the breast as possible.

Breakthrough policy director Maggie Alexander said: “We’re concerned there appear to be significant differences given to patients depending on their age.

“While older patients may be less likely to receive standard treatment, possibly due to patient choice of the underlying health of an individual, we need to better understand the reasons why.”

Their findings appear to be at odds with the experience of an Oxfordshire pensioner who survived breast cancer after undergoing a lumpectomy. Joyce Gascoigne, 85, from Middleton Cheney, near Bicester, said: “I don’t think there’s a difference between the ages. The service I received was absolutely wonderful.”

Ann Bowler, from Kennington, is undergoing treatment for breast cancer at the Churchill Hospital, in Headington, and has had two lumpectomies.

She said: “It could very well be that older people aren’t routinely screened and maybe by the time it has been picked up it has got to a more dangerous stage.”

A spokesman for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust said all women, no matter what their age, were offered all treatment options available, unless there was a clinical reason.

She added: “We bear in mind the known side-effects and risks associated with all treatments, surgery, chemo-therapy, radiotherapy, hormonal and biological therapies, when making recommendations.

“The patient’s age does have a bearing on the risks associated with treatment to a degree, but is never the only, nor indeed the principal factor considered.”

Breakthrough’s research does not reflect one great-grandmother’s experience of Oxfordshire cancer services.

  • Joyce Gascoigne, 85, from Middleton Cheney, near Bicester, said she first felt something was “not quite right” in her breast as she lay in bed in June last year.

Mrs Gascoigne said: “I saw my GP – I think it was the Friday – and straight away he sent me to the breast clinic.

“I wasn’t expecting to be seen so quickly but my doctor insisted.”

Within days Mrs Gascoigne had undergone an immediate lumpectomy – surgical removal of the cancerous lump.

Mrs Gascoigne’s treatment was successful although she must now take the anti-cancer drug Tamoxifen for five years.

The former nurse said she felt she owed much of her excellent treatment to the quick actions of her GP.

She said: “I don’t think there’s a difference between the ages.

“If you have a good doctor, then it doesn’t matter what age you are.

“Maybe if it had been left longer, I would have needed more surgery but I was seen so quickly it wasn’t necessary.”

  • Are you having treatment for breast cancer? What has your experience been? Call Amanda Williams on 01865 425426 or email awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk