PRESS RELEASE

March 22nd, 2010

Bad and getting worse

Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil is backing a campaign by Macmillan Cancer Support to make patients aware of help they are entitled to.

A report this week revealed that £8 million in disability benefits, such as Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance, is not being claimed by cancer patients across Scotland.

The MSP this week met with Macmillan welfare advisors at the Inverclyde Royal Hospital to discuss the work that is being done to put this right.

The two advisors, Jacqueline Coyle and Sandra Murphy, dealt with 450 cancer patients last year and helped them access £1.3 million in benefits.

Already this year they have seen around 130 new patients at the hospital, working with Inverclyde Council to give them advice.

The MSP said: “When someone is diagnosed with a condition as serious as this, clearly it is going to turn their life upside down and things like money and benefits, which many are not used to collecting, do not seem so important.

“But there is much-needed help out there and having expert advice based in the hospital makes that help more accessible and easier to understand.

“The team at Macmillan Cancer do fantastic work and these advisers play an important role in lifting the burden placed on cancer patients, allowing them to concentrate on getting better.

“The £1.3 million in benefits Jacqueline and Sandra have helped patients access demonstrate there is a need to make people aware of what they are entitled to and I happy to support Macmillan in their campaign to do this.”

ENDS