Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with around 56,000 new cases of breast cancer each year [1]. For businesses, supporting employers through a breast cancer diagnosis isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s crucial for fostering a compassionate, inclusive workplace. As employers, understanding the challenges and needs of those affected by breast cancer can make a world of difference in their journey to recovery. Here’s how you can provide meaningful support.
1. Start with empathy and flexibility
Breast cancer treatment can be physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting. Offering empathy and flexibility is key. Flexible working arrangements, whether it’s adjusting hours or allowing remote work, can help employees manage medical appointments, treatments, and the impact on their energy levels.
2. Create a supportive environment
Communication is critical. Employers should create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their diagnosis, needs, and concerns. Confidentiality is essential, and having a clear, supportive policy in place can ease the process. Consider offering access to mental health support or employee assistance programmes (EAPs) to provide further guidance and emotional hand-holding outside of the office.
3. Understand legal obligations
In the UK, employees diagnosed with cancer are legally classified as disabled under the Equality Act 2010 [2]. This means employers must make reasonable adjustments, like altering duties or providing additional leave, to support employees through their treatment. Be sure to stay compliant and work closely with HR to ensure this.
4. Offer tailored healthcare support
If your organisation provides private healthcare, explore options to ensure comprehensive cancer care is included. Offering services like specialist consultations, counselling, and access to virtual GP services can make a huge difference for employees navigating their diagnosis and treatment.
5. Foster peer support and awareness
Consider setting up support networks within your workplace, allowing those affected by breast cancer to connect with colleagues going through similar experiences. Additionally, raising awareness about breast cancer through company communications, wellness initiatives, or events like Breast Cancer Awareness Month can help foster a culture of understanding and openness.
6. Plan for the long term
Support doesn’t end with treatment. Some employees may face long term effects like fatigue or anxiety about returning to work. Providing ongoing support, such as phased returns, adjusted workloads, or long term counselling services, shows a commitment to their wellbeing and reintegration into the workplace.
Healix members can also access Perci Health through our healthcare schemes. Perci’s mission is to assist those living with cancer, offering high-quality cancer experts across multi-disciplinary fields. They focus holistically on recovery – physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally – ensuring no treatable side effect is left untreated. By partnering with Perci Health, Healix helps bridge the gap between cancer treatment and long-term wellness, offering employees the comprehensive support they need during and after their cancer journey.
Supporting employees through breast cancer requires empathy, flexibility, and a thoughtful approach to healthcare and workplace adjustments. By creating a supportive and informed environment, you can help employees feel valued and secure, boosting both their morale and overall workplace wellbeing.
David Grifttiths, Chief Medical Officer at virtual GP partner Teladoc Health, has shared the following screening tips with us:
What is breast cancer?
Breasts are made up of fat, connective tissue, glands and ducts. Their main purpose is to make milk for the newborn child.
Breast cancer occurs when cells in the breast tissue grow uncontrollably, causing a lump or tumour, which can sometimes spread both through the breast and to other parts of the body. Breast cancer mostly affects women and is the most common form of cancer in females; it can occur in men but it is rare.
What are the screening tests?
The simplest and, arguably, most important test is a self-examination. This means feeling the breasts with your hands to check for lumps or other changes (skin puckering, for example). This is a great start because a woman knows her own breasts better than anyone else. It’s also simple and free!
The main formal screening test is a mammogram, an xray of the breast which looks for small calcium deposits (microcalcifications) which can indicate early cancer. If there are abnormalities on the mammogram, a patient will often be offered an ultrasound or an MRI scan and, potentially, a biopsy, to further evaluate the breast tissue.
These tests have been evaluated for screening but ultrasound can miss early tumours and MRI can be over-sensitive and highlight lumps which turn out not to be cancer. MRI can be useful in patients at higher risk e.g. those specific genetic mutations which make cancer more likely.
In the UK, mammograms are offered to patients aged 50 to 70 every 3 years in a rolling programme. Below the age of 50, where cancer is much less common and mammograms are less effective, trials did not show that the screening would save lives.
Are the tests effective?
Mammograms are estimated to reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer by about 20-30%, by picking up early cancers which are easier to treat. About 40 in every thousand women screened are called back for more tests and about 8 women per 1000 are found to have a cancer. It is estimated that the UK screening programme saves 1300 lives per year.
Of course, no screening method is perfect. False positives, where the test suggests cancer is present when it isn’t, and false negatives, where the test misses a cancer diagnosis, can occur. Additionally, some detected cancers may be slow-growing and not life-threatening, leading to overdiagnosis and overtreatment, possibly for as many as 4000 women per year.
So, what should I do?
As always with screening, early detection is a good thing but there are pros and cons because there is no perfect test.
The key points are:
- For young women, practice and become confident in self-examination and repeat this regularly. If you find anything unusual, speak to a clinician.
- For women who have a family history of breast cancer, speak to your GP to determine whether you need any special testing.
- For women over the age of 50, take up the NHS screening when it is offered to you or, if you’re unsure whether to do so, speak to a clinician to make sure you make the right choice for you as an individual.
Cancer Research UK, Breast cancer statistics, Accessed September 2024.
Cancer Research UK, The Disability Discrimination Act, Equality Act and cancer, Accessed September 2024.
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