Women call for post-cancer surgery bra vouchers
Bernadette Brown said a bra she was given after her surgery was "not fit for purpose"
- Published
A Nottinghamshire bra shop owner has started a petition calling for breast cancer patients to get a voucher to buy bras and prostheses after surgery.
Janice Holmes, who owns a lingerie shop in Newark, said some of her customers are patients who leave hospital with "ill-fitting" prostheses and bras.
The NHS does provide prostheses, according to its website, and Nottingham University Hospitals runs a bra shop at City Hospital for patients who have had surgery.
But some women say a government-led voucher scheme would allow them to find a suitable alternative outside of a "medical atmosphere".
Bernadette Brown, from Newark, was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2023, following a lumpectomy and biopsy at the end of 2022.
The 66-year-old said she felt she "knew what to expect" having seen her sister go through treatment for breast cancer a few years earlier.
'Back to normality'
But after her treatment she said she "just wanted to feel feminine again".
"When I lost my hair and my eyebrows and eyelashes, I looked at myself in the mirror and I thought it was somebody else looking back at me," she said.
Mrs Brown said she was entitled to a voucher for a free wig - which she said she did not use - but said she "would have used a voucher for a bra".
"The team of people who looked after me were absolutely fantastic," she said.
"But after the surgery, the bra I was given wasn't fit for purpose.
"All I wanted to do was go home, I wasn't really in a position to say 'no I don't want that one'."
Mrs Brown added that being able to find a bra or prostheses in her own time and "outside a medical atmosphere" helped her "get back to normality".
Janice Holmes believes patients should have access to "properly fitted" prostheses and bras
Ms Holmes, who Mrs Brown said had helped her, added: "Women who have undergone breast surgery due to cancer should have access to bras and prostheses that fit correctly and make them feel comfortable and confident.
She set up her petition on the government's own website, but it and all other petitions have been temporarily halted in the run-up to the general election.
"Just as a wig can help a woman feel like herself again, a properly fitted bra and prostheses can significantly impact her self-esteem and quality of life," she said.
Pamela Healey, another breast cancer survivor, from Retford, said after her surgery, she was "uneven" because her prostheses was not the right size.
"When I went back to the hospital and asked to change it because I didn't think it was the right size anymore, I was told you can only have one," she said.
"I feel sorry for people that can't afford to buy their own," she added.
NHS England was contacted for comment.
The NHS website states: "Before leaving hospital, you'll have the opportunity to be fitted with a lightweight breast shape (prosthesis) to wear inside your bra.
"You'll usually be fitted with a longer-term prosthesis and given advice on bra fitting six to eight weeks after the operation."
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