Patron News

Protecting the workforce from the big ‘C’

in a postpandemic world

Cancer continues to exact a high price to the economy and society. Over 123,000 working-age individuals are diagnosed with cancer each year and over the past few decades cancer incidence has continued to increase. The good news is that whilst cancer incidence is rising, people are also living much longer thanks to improvements in cancer treatments.

Finding ways to improve cancer care and giving people access to the best treatments is vital. For employers, this means proactively seeking solutions that can protect the workforce and give employees peace of mind that when it comes to cancer, they are fully covered.

Jayne Moore Media based in Liverpool is one of the first businesses in the UK to adopt Rutherford Direct’s Cancer Cover for businesses. At the heart of that decision was Managing Director, Jayne Moore, who is a cancer survivor and knows better than anyone that having access to the best care can mean the difference between life and death. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of employee welfare and the past year of lockdowns has placed greater emphasis on a healthier work-life balance and above all, employee health. This will remain at the top of the agenda for the foreseeable future.

Cancer remains a dominant healthcare challenge in the workforce for which there is no vaccine and which no number of lockdowns can suppress.

One innovative solution to give employees assurance that they are fully covered when it comes to cancer is a new membership plan. Rutherford Direct Cancer Cover, which was developed to widen access to high quality cancer care in the UK at an affordable monthly cost, was launched in 2020 and offers access to a comprehensive suite of treatments upon diagnosis.

The membership plan is the first of its kind that focusses exclusively on cancer and is available to businesses and individuals. The cover includes comprehensive cancer treatments including pioneering proton beam therapy through a network of UK treatment facilities. The membership plan is also paired with an extensive lifestyle support package that offers a five-star concierge service, daily cash benefit, companion cover, cancer and health counselling, and even post treatment medication cover. The purpose of Rutherford Direct is to address the lack of access to high quality cancer treatment, care, and support in the UK, providing members with the assurance that they will be fully supported in the event of a diagnosis with a transparent route to comprehensive treatment offering certainty over risk, which is paramount when considering that one in two of us will be diagnosed.

Pressure on the NHS is at an all-time high and the damage done by the pandemic means that it will be fighting the cancer backlog for a long time. NHS resources also need to be primed for potential future waves and variants. With Rutherford Direct, members are guaranteed access to independent facilities which have greater capacity to treat cancer patients and offer pioneering technologies such as Proton Beam Therapy and MR-linac Radiotherapy as well as conventional therapies. Rutherford Direct was built to deliver that assurance.