Petition · past parliament

Cancer treatment should not be in lockdown.

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Don't stop cancer treatments during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are still fighting and would like the government to fight with us.
We would like the government to discuss the handling of care for cancer patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lots of cancer sufferers have had treatments cancelled or delayed. We understand the need to combat the spread but we do not agree that this should be to the detriment of treatment for cancer sufferers. We should be given the choice to go ahead with treatment, or not, and to expect precautions in place to protect the NHS and ourselves. Cancer does not go into lockdown.

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

Decisions about patient treatment are operational decisions for the NHS, not the Government or Parliament.

Since you started your petition the Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer of the NHS have updated their guidance to NHS Trusts: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/04/second-phase-of-nhs-response-to-covid-19-letter-to-chief-execs-29-april-2020.pdf

The NHS has also updated it's information on cancer treatment to refer to advice from Macmillan and Cancer Research UK on coronavirus and cancer: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cancer/

We have published the following related petition, which you might like to sign:

Fund specialist hospitals for care of chronically ill during covid-19: Fund specialist hospitals for care of chronically ill during covid-19

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you find out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/

Timeline

26 Apr 2020 Petition opened for signatures
7 Jul 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 7 Jul 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.