Robert Fisk urges stronger push for mental-health aid for cancer patients

In a personal column, Robert Fisk describes how his incurable bowel cancer has curtailed ordinary summer activities and forced him to juggle writing with frequent hospital appointments. He acknowledges that chemotherapy and immunotherapy are tasked with fighting the cancer cells, while his own battle is to ensure that patients receive adequate mental-health support during and after treatment. Fisk points to the a journalist at one outlet campaign, launched in January 2025, as a vehicle for this push.

The campaign references a promise made by former health secretary Wes Streeting to embed mental-health provisions in a Personal Cancer Plan. Fisk urges the public and policymakers to keep pressure on the government to fulfil that pledge, arguing that without such support patients risk living in a perpetual “winter” of isolation and anxiety.