Report finds breast cancer patients lack rehabilitation

More than half of people diagnosed with breast cancer in the past five years have not received enough rehabilitation, according to a new report from the Swedish Breast Cancer Association, reported by SVT. Six in ten breast cancer patients experience long-term effects that affect their quality of life.

More than 130,000 women in Sweden are living with or have previously had breast cancer. Long-term effects can include joint pain, fatigue and lymphoedema, and may appear after treatment has ended, sometimes years later.

Camilla Gasslander, a breast cancer survivor and physiotherapist, said she had not been prepared for the physical effects of treatment. “Everyone with hormone-related cancer, you could say, gets menopause times 100,” she said, describing severe body pain, hot flushes and interrupted sleep.

Fewer than three in ten patients have been offered rehabilitation, the report says. One in four breast cancer clinics reported poor conditions for providing it, and half said they lacked psychologists.

After cancer treatment ends, patients are referred to primary care, but responsibility for their rehabilitation needs is often unclear. Only two of the 19 breast cancer clinics that responded to the report said they had procedures for handing patients over to primary care.

“Patients should not have to hold the care chain together themselves,” said Susanne Dieroff Hay, chair of the Swedish Breast Cancer Association. The organisation is calling for clear handover procedures, more psychologists and improved expertise in primary care. It also said people living with metastatic breast cancer should not be overlooked.