To help spot cancer earlier’
Britain must do better, says Sir Mike Greenwood, Cancer Research UK’s policy director, said the study showed “how far we still have to go in giving cancer patients the best chances of survival”. She added: “With the number of cases increasing it’s crucial we speed up progress.”
Cancer accounts for more than a quarter of all deaths in the UK and kills around 164,000 people each year. Incidence of the disease has risen steadily, increasing by 40 per cent over 20 years to 2015.
Record
An NHS England spokesman said: “The NHS is now seeing two million urgent GP referrals a year, half a million more than in 2015 when NICE updated their referral criteria, with a record numbers of people receiving treatment. Cancer survival rates are at their highest ever and further work to ensure faster and earlier diagnosis and treatment is underway and will be a cornerstone of the NHS’s long term plan for cancer to help save more lives.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Improving early diagnosis of cancer is a key priority for this Government. That’s why from next year, patients with suspected cancer will receive a diagnosis or have cancer ruled out within 28 days. We also announced a package of cancer measures that will radically improve the system and ensure 55,000 more people survive cancer for five years from 2028.” IT’S rare to find someone who’s not been affected by cancer – either as a patient, or through family or friends.
Better cancer services in the NHS regularly tops the list when people are asked what is important.
Although there has been much progress in the past two decades with better access to drugs, more screening and speedier waiting times, outcomes still lag behind other countries. A promise was made by the Government in 2000 to have the fastest improving cancer services in Europe.
But other countries have also improved and the gap in survival Doctors here were also less likely to refer people for tests. Getting patients diagnosed and treated earlier before their cancer has become advanced, is now seen as vital to closing the gap. Theresa May has recently said that early diagnosis should be a high priority and that the proportion of cancer patients diagnosed at an early stage should increase from one-in-two people to three-in-four by 2028.
Achieving this will require effort right across the NHS. At the moment, there are not enough staff to carry out investigations as both GPs and hospitals are under huge pressure. GPs need to be supported to refer more people for tests, and where possible do some of the tests locally. It is important to make sure there are enough diagnostic machines, such as CT and MRI scanners and enough staff to run them.
It is also vital people are better informed about the symptoms of cancer and feel confident they are not wasting the GP’s time.
Public awareness campaigns – which have been successful in the past – play a crucial role in this. Cancer caught earlier is easier to treat – often through surgery and radiotherapy – and often means less chemotherapy: better for patients and better for the NHS.