Shockat Adam

I salute the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) for securing this debate. Hopefully we can turn her personal tragedy into a national triumph if we work together. She is absolutely correct in saying that individually, certain types of brain tumours are very rare, but collectively they are very common. The simple fact that only 1% of our national cancer research funding goes to them is absolutely unacceptable. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as I am a national health service optometrist. I will speak on that topic, because a simple eye test can detect a brain tumour, as the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) said. I have unfortunately—or fortunately, in certain cases, because we have been able to detect them early—been in the position of seeing people who are completely asymptomatic or people coming in with a simple headache having brain tumours detected. That is why I really want to emphasise that the avenue of using eye tests is undervalued and underutilised. They are completely un-invasive, cost efficient and accessible, and they can save so many lives. Is it at all possible for us to have a national awareness campaign as part of a broader body to ensure that eye tests can be linked to brain tumours, so that they can be detected?