Visits to a cancer support charity’s website have surged in the days following the news of the Princess of Wales’s cancer diagnosis.
Macmillan Cancer Support said traffic to its online information and support pages were the highest seen on a weekend since the first Covid-19 lockdown.
Between Friday evening – when Kate’s video message was released – and Sunday, there was close to 100,000 visits, 10% higher than this time last year.
The surge follows a similar spike last month when the King announced he had been diagnosed with cancer.
In sharing her news, the Princess of Wales has raised awareness of these worries and will be helping to encourage others who have concerns, to visit their GP and seek support
The same pages were visited almost 50,000 times in a single day, Macmillan said.
The charity praised Kate for raising awareness of the worries patients may have in the wake of diagnosis and hopes it will encourage more people with the disease to reach out.
According to Macmillan, more than 1,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every day, the equivalent to one person every 90 seconds.
Chief executive Gemma Peters said: “We hear from people every day who are worried about how cancer will affect their loved ones and how best to support each other through it.
“In sharing her news, the Princess of Wales has raised awareness of these worries and will be helping to encourage others who have concerns, to visit their GP and seek support.
“Many will be relating to the Prince and Princess of Wales at this time.
“Some of the first thoughts parents have after being diagnosed with cancer are how it may affect their children and whether talking to them about it will make them worry, but it is important to give them the chance to talk openly about their fears.”
The figures from Macmillan come after Cancer Research UK spoke of a similar “uplift” in traffic.
There is no doubt that talking about cancer saves lives if it encourages people to come forward sooner if things aren’t right
The charity’s executive director of policy Dr Ian Walker told the PA news agency: “We see significant increase in uplift in terms of the number of people that visit our website for health information after these types of announcements.”
He added that “high-profile cancer cases” like the King and Princess of Wales “can act as a prompt to encourage people to find out more”.
“I think for anyone – being open and talking about cancer diagnosis can have a positive effect. It encourages people to find out more and to think about their own health.”
NHS England also reported a 373% spike in visits to its cancer page following the announcement.
In the 24 hours after the news broke, there were 2,840 visits to the site, almost five times higher than the same period a week earlier.
Traffic to the NHS page on cancer symptoms also attracted 4,172 visits in the three hours after the video was released, an average of one every three seconds.
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer, said: “Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be very daunting – it turns your life upside down and speaking about it can be really difficult for people – the Princess of Wales bravely speaking out about her diagnosis will help others to do the same.
“Thanks to this, we have seen a spike in people visiting vital information on our website about signs and symptoms – there is no doubt that talking about cancer saves lives if it encourages people to come forward sooner if things aren’t right.”
