One of the best parts of being an MP is having the opportunity to champion the special people that make Stretford and Urmston the great place to live that it is.

I recently had the privilege of doing this during a debate I led in Parliament on access to dentistry for cancer patients. I organised this debate to highlight the phenomenal campaigning of my constituent, Michele.

Michele is a cancer survivor, living in Flixton, who has spent years raising awareness of the important, but often unrecognised, connection between cancer and dental health.

Both chemotherapy and radiotherapy can worsen existing dental health issues or cause new ones entirely. In some cases, the emergence of these problems can prevent cancer treatment from beginning or continuing, and I’ve heard heartbreaking stories of people who were previously dentally healthy losing almost all their teeth during treatment.

Despite this, cancer patients are finding it extremely difficult to access affordable dentistry. In Trafford alone, less than 4 per cent of NHS dental practices are accepting new adult patients.

What this means for most people is the choice of going private or going without. When the costs of private dentistry are so high, that’s not really a choice at all for many, especially those with cancer who often stop working due to their condition.

There is an urgent need to increase access to dentistry for cancer patients and this is exactly what Michele is campaigning for.

While the long-term goal of the campaign - which now has almost 200,000 supporters - is free dental care for cancer patients, it also proposes more immediate options for improving access to dental treatment. These include prioritising cancer patients for NHS dentistry and ensuring that there is clear NHS guidance on the need for cancer patients to receive dental care.

The campaign is also calling for cancer and dentistry services to be joined together so those with cancer can be offered out-patient appointments with hospital dentists alongside their other treatment.

I was pleased that the debate I had in Parliament gave me the chance to highlight these proposals to Andrea Leadsom, the government minister with responsibility for dentistry. She kindly agreed to a meeting with Michele and I to discuss them further.

The Shadow Minister for Public Health and Primary Care, Preet Gill, also met Michele and I before the debate to talk about Michele’s campaign and the issues behind it.

I hope these meetings can be beginning of cross-party work on cancer and dental care because this isn’t a party-political issue, but it is something we must get right if we want to support people who are already facing one of life’s toughest challenges. I’ll keep working with Michele to make this happen.

Andrew Western is the MP for Stretford and Urmston.