Winter Fuel Payments for Cancer Patients

A friend of mine from my cyber support group has come across a 10 Downing Street e-petition set up by someone a while ago, to ask the Government to allocate Winter Fuel Payments for people with cancer.

I am sure she won't mind me blogging about it - and using many of her words - and I also hope you will sign if you are able to.

The Government has always said "no" to widening this benefit to anyone with a specific illness/disability, and their initial response to a similar campaign from Macmillan was "they can use their DLA (Disability Living Allowance) for fuel bills", but of course not all patients with cancer are eligible for DLA, and that's not what it's for anyway.

So . . . I hope you'll go to:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Cancer-keepwarm/

And sign the e-petition. Just under another 100 signatures are needed before the 4th of February to get a government response.

There is also a Macmillan campaign and for the first time in my life, I think I will be writing to my MP. Please visit their campaign website for more information:

http://www.macmillan.org.uk/GetInvolved/Campaigns/Freezeoutfuelpoverty/Fuel_poverty_campaign.aspx

For a long time the Government was very resistant to allowing free NHS prescriptions for cancer patients. And then changed their minds, so we might find they do the same with this campaign. I for one spent a lot of money on various prescriptions that have been needed over the past 5 years - as I am sure you can imagine they do add up. So here's hoping that cancer patients can get the extra help they need with fuel bills around this time of year.

Cancer is an indiscriminate disease that affects both the rich and poor. And trust me, having the heating on when you need to rest at home, is something that anyone receiving treatment for cancer should be entitled to.