Offer cancer patients exercise on NHS, major charity urges

Cancer patients should be offered yoga, tai chi and Nordic walking as part of their NHS care to boost their chances of survival and stop tumours returning, a major charity has said.

Maggie’s, which operates 27 cancer support centres across the UK, is urging NHS bosses to “embed” exercise into the care offered to the 386,000 Britons diagnosed with the disease every year.

Making physical activity available to patients would lead to them needing less care from doctors and nurses, and save the health service millions of pounds a year, it says.

The charity is urging Wes Streeting, the health secretary, to include what would be a major change in NHS practice in the forthcoming national cancer plan to improve cancer care in England.

“We know that cancer doesn’t end when treatment does. If the national cancer strategy is serious about boosting survival it must look very closely at targeted exercise programmes, particularly with the number of people with cancer growing year on year and more than 6 million new cases predicted by 2040,” said Laura Lee, the chief executive of Maggie’s.

The suggestion comes as it emerged the cancer plan, which was due this autumn, has been postponed until “early in the new year”. Ashley Dalton, the public health minister, confirmed the delay at health questions in parliament last Tuesday.

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, both of whose parents died of cancer, warned the delay to the plan – originally promised by the Conservatives in 2022 – “will cut short the lives of patients who are waiting far too long for treatment”.

Michelle Mitchell, the chief executive of Cancer Research UK, recently voiced the same fear. There was no time to waste in taking long-discussed and urgently needed action to improve what are – by international standards – England’s low rates of early detection of cancer, she said.

New research commissioned by Maggie’s from York University into its own experience of providing exercise sessions shows it improves patients’ sleep and mental health, and reduces their pain.

The charity put on 13,000 sessions a year across its 27 centres as part of its “prehabilitation” for cancer patients. They include yoga, tai chi and Nordic walking, as well as gym classes and gentler chair-based exercises for those with limited mobility.

The call for such activities to be routine in the NHS comes after a landmark study in June found that physical activity can cut the risk of cancer patients dying by a third, stop tumours recurring and can be a more effective treatment than drugs.

“So often people with cancer think they can’t exercise while going through treatment but through our centres realise that staying active is possible. People leave our sessions feeling empowered,” Lee said.

“Our classes may begin as exercise sessions but they also help people maintain good physical and mental health as well as quickly evolving into support groups.”

World Cancer Research Fund said physical activity becoming part of standard NHS cancer care was a good idea and backed by strong evidence that patients benefit.

“We strongly welcome Maggie’s call to embed exercise and prehabilitation into NHS cancer care and urge the UK government to include this recommendation in the upcoming national cancer plan for England,” said Kate Oldridge-Turner, the charity’s head of policy and public affairs.

“The scientific evidence is clear that being physically active not only improves treatment outcomes and survival for people living with cancer but also reduces the risk of developing cancers of the colon, breast and womb and others related to obesity.”