Good Morning. I’m Sharon Hodgson. The MP for Gateshead East and Washington West. It is a real privilege to be here this morning to speak to you and before I start I just want to say a quick thank you to both Breakthrough for asking me to speak and to all of you for the hard work which you do.

I believe this is the 8th Fly in event and I hope to see them continue to go from strength to strength.

As a new Member of Parliament in 2005 people kept asking me what areas I would choose to focus on. Truth be told my journey to Parliament had been that much of a whirlwind that I had no idea what I would choose to campaign for although I had many interests and many important matters which I wanted to see progress on.

I am on the only female MP in Tyne and Wear and I knew that I wanted to make sure I stuck up for my sisterhood in what at times could remain a fairly misogynist environment. As it happens I don’t consider breast cancer to be a ‘women’s issue’ because it can have a profound and distressing impact on the life on anybody at anytime. And as we know men can contract it too.

So I began to consider my options on what is, after all, quite a big decision for a new MP. But before I could decide on a focus for my first year in Parliament the decision was taken out of my hands.

My best friend, Joanne Smith, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 34. At the time, she had a two-year-old and a seven-year-old, who are now a little older, but she was a young woman with a young family. The diagnosis was a tragedy, I imagine you would not need me to tell you of the pain and anguish which her family and friends suffered. There were indeed ‘testing times’ which have gone on to profoundly shape my first years as a Member of Parliament.

Joanne was seen within 48 hours by a cancer specialist at my local hospital, the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Gateshead. Her consultant, Dr. Clark, has been incredible and her treatment has been fantastic. She had a double mastectomy and a terrible course of chemotherapy, which debilitated her. Nobody goes through chemotherapy lightly, but because she was so young and she had to have such a high dose that it was shocking to see her suffer through it.

After talking through the situation with Joanne I did what any friend would do. I started to research what it was I could do to help. It soon became clear that Herceptin would give Joanne a much better chance of fighting the disease. But Herceptin was not available to her. I was keen to get my local cancer network—the northern cancer network—to reverse its decision not to prescribe Herceptin. It made the original decision because the drug did not have National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance. However, after a great deal of campaigning by me and other MPs and people like yourselves throughout the country and the region, the decision was reversed.

My campaign for Joanne got a lot of press interest, and the northern cancer network reversed did, happily, reverse its decision - on which I congratulate it. My friend started her Herceptin treatment: she was one of the first people in the region to receive the drug and I am glad to say that two years on Joanne is now undergoing reconstructive surgery and has kept the cancer at bay.

I am sure all you here today could share stories like this. It is hard to describe the emotions you feel when a friend or family member is diagnosed with cancer and I am always thankful that I was in a position where I could do something. And now I am determined to continue doing something.

The wider North East suffers sharply from the inequalities in healthcare which exist across the country.

In my patch, death rates from smoking, heart disease, strokes and cancer are all above the national average. The mortality rate for cancer is 136 per hundred thousand compared to a national average of 119. Compare this with a wealthy London Borough such as Kensington and Chelsea where cancer mortality rates are only 81 per hundred thousand.

These figures for me are a clear sign that is important to all of my constituents that I continue to campaign and combat cancer.

Since that time when I first set out in Parliament I have become more and more involved with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Breast Cancer. Forgive me if I refer to it as the All Party group from here on in as that was a bit of a mouthful! I suppose this was a natural progression given my early campaigning work.

I learnt from my experience that we can make a difference to cancer policy in the country when we work together. And most importantly we can make a difference to cancer patients.

I know that sometimes you must feel frustrated by how long it takes to make progress. I share this frustration and that is why it was important to me to get involved with the all party group. It is not just a government committee or a glorified talking shop. It is a group of MPs from all political backgrounds who want to fight for a future free from the fear of Breast Cancer.

The work done by the group was a real catalyst in the Government’s decision to raise the age limit of the screening programme to 70. This move has, undoubtedly, saved lives since.And the same can be said of the work done by the group to highlight the lack of uptake in screening invitations.

So there have been successes of which to be proud. But we need to push for more progress.

Our long terms aims as a group are to:

To raise issues of concern with Government and other policy makers
To provide a forum for MPs and Peers of all political parties to discuss breast cancer related issues
To take action on behalf of people with breast cancer.

As well as campaigning to improve breast cancer services and organising meetings with eminent speakers, the Group publishes the Breast Cancer Bulletin and encourages MPs and Peers to contribute to parliamentary debates and questions.

These are our aims, but ,we must also set out our priorities. There are three current priorities for the group

Firstly, we will focus on ensuring that all extensions of access to breast cancer screening are taken up by those who are entitled to them. This will mean keeping up pressure for adequate funding across the country.

The most recent extension of the screening programme will mean that over 200,000 more women are being screened every year and we need to make sure that proper care and support is there for them if the news is not good.

That is why our second priority is to protect the role of specialist breast cancer nurses. The government has done a good job in increasing the amount of nurses across the NHS but, it remains vital that there are specially trained nurses who can provide crucial care, information and support to breast cancer patients.

And thirdly, we must make sure that when the Cancer Reform Strategy is published it delivers an agenda which will improve the prospects for breast cancer sufferers.

I know I speak on behalf of all members of the group when I say that you can rest assured we will not be sitting back and waiting for these changes. We will be doing our level best to make them happen.

The old saying goes that ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ and I think that sometimes that same quote could adapted to say ‘ too many politicians spoil the policy’.

This, though , is not one of those times. Breakthrough do a tremendous job in enabling politicians to put the politics to one side. Thanks to them, we are all clear what the issues are and what changes need making. The All Party group can push for these changes here in Parliament without party politics getting in the way.

It is important that we get as many politicians as possible engaged on breast cancer issues. It is to the credit of everybody who has worked so hard to raise the profile of breast cancer as an issue here in the UK that it is no longer viewed as a marginal concern or a ‘woman’s issue’.

The more politicians we have onboard the louder our call for change becomes. It does not matter if your MP is Labour, Tory or Liberal, we need their help.

Our Parliament takes a bit of stick for being outdated, slow and stuck in its ways. But one of the great advantages we have is that each time there is avote in Parliament all of the country’s MPs must gather in the lobby. This gives backbenchers a perfect chance to bend the ears of ministers and raise in minutes an issue which sometimes it would take weeks to resolve.

If we have more and more MPs in the lobby who are aware of the changes we need to see in our health service in order to fight breast cancer I can guarantee you that the people who make the decisions won’t be able to hide for long!

So that is why the work you will do today and the work you do all year round is so important. MPs are literally inundated by people who want to lobby them on a whole range of issues. We sometimes cannot possibly have the time to listen to every voice which wants our ear. As with any job MPs prioritise the issues which they face. For example, I would respond to a letter warning of job cuts in my constituency far quicker than a letter on say the importance of the bee keeping industry to the North East economy. Not that beekeeping is unimportant you understand!

The lobbyists who have the greatest impact are those who are knowledgeable, passionate and persistent. To put it simply we can’t ignore them!

No MP could doubt that every one of you here today has a real passion to see Breast Cancer services continue to improve.

I know from previous experience that Breakthrough will have made sure you have all of the information that you need to speak knowledgably and with authority on breast cancer issues.

And I can promise you that if you are persistent and keep up the hard work after today you will start to see results.

Your own personal stories of how your lives and the lives of those around you have been affected by cancer give the work which you will do today added strength.

There are no opt out clauses for your MPs, the fight against cancer is not a party political issue, it is a priority issue.

So if your MP makes you a promise today be sure to hold them to it.

And when they make representations on your behalf be sure to say thank you.

I don’t say this because you should be polite. I say it because saying thank you gives you a chance to ask them do to something else!

I know you are passionate, and I know that thanks to breakthrough you are all knowledgeable, if you are all equally persistent then that ticks all the boxes.

I can promise you that – at our end - the All Party group will be doing their best to make sure that of our boxes are ticked too.

So Good Luck today and Good Luck throughout the next year!